Scandinavian
Influence
on
SOUTHERN LOWLAND SCOTCH
a contribution to the
Study of the Linguistic Relations of English
and Scandinavian
BY
GEORGE TOBIAS FLOM, B.L., A.M.
sometime fellow in german, columbia university
AMS PRESS, INC.
NEW YORK
1966
Copyright 1900, Columbia University Press,
New York
Reprinted with the permission of the
Original Publisher, 1966
AMS PRESS, INC.
New York, N.Y. 10003
1966
Manufactured in the United States of America
Errata (Author's List with Transcriber's Additions)
Preface
Abbreviations: Primary Texts
Abbreviations: Reference Works
Abbreviations: Languages, Grammar
Note on Terminology
Author's Table of Contents
Footnotes
P. vi, l. 10, for norrnøe, read norrøne.
P. viii, l. 5, for Wyntown, read Wyntoun and so elsewhere.
P. x, l. 11 from bottom, for Koolmann, read Koolman
and so elsewhere.
P. xi, l. 1, for Paul, read Kluge; l. 2, for
Hermann Paul, read Friedrich Kluge.
P. 5, l. 6 from bottom, for in York, read and York.
P. 13, last line, for or ǣ ę̄, read ǣ or ę̄.
P. 18, l. 3 from bottom, for Skaif, read Skæif.
P. 19, l. 13, for is to, read is to be.
P. 21, l. 10, for Fiad, read Faid.
P. 26, l. 2, aparasta should be aprasta.
P. 31, under Bront (See Skeat brunt) should be See
Skeat brunt.
P. 32, under Byrd, for bōræ, read böræ.
P. 47, under Hansel, for Bruce, V, 120, Hansell used ironically
means "defeat," read: Bruce, V, 120, hansell, etc.
P. 50, under Laike, for i-diphthong, read æi-diphthong.
P. 66, under Swarf, in the last line for O. Fr. read O. F.
P. 74, l. 19, for e to a, read e to æ.
[Transcriber's Note:
The above changes, listed in the printed
book, have been made in the e-text and marked with popups
like this.
In addition, all references to Paul's Grundriss, 2 Auflage,
I Band
have been regularized to P. G.2 I
to agree with the author's list of abbreviations, p. x.
The following apparent errors have not been changed
but are noted here:
P. 5, last line, the form bỳr
?should be the form býr
P. 28 Bein, bene, bein: duplication.
P. 28 under Bing, Douglass
?should be Douglas.
P. 29 under Blout, blowt, Douglas, III, 76; II,
?should be Douglas, III, 76, 11.
P. 31 Brokit, Brukit: atypical capitalization.
P. 42 Frae, Frae: atypical capitalization.
P. 49 under Irking, Winyet, II, 76; I
?should be II, 76, 1.
P. 57 Roop and Stoop: atypical capitalization.
P. 69 under Skyle, Fer.
?should be Far.
P. 79 under ǣ, ǣ > e, e
?should be ǣ > a, e
End of Transcriber's Note.]
to
Prof. William H. Carpenter, Ph.D.
Prof. Calvin Thomas, A.M.
Prof. Thomas R. Price, LL.D.
of columbia university in the city of new york
IN GRATITUDE
v
This work aims primarily at giving a list of Scandinavian loanwords
found in Scottish literature. The publications of the Scottish
Text Society and Scotch works published by the Early English
Text Society have been examined. To these have been added a
number of other works to which I had access, principally Middle
Scotch. Some words have been taken from works more recent—"Mansie
Wauch" by James Moir, "Johnnie Gibb" by William Alexander, Isaiah
and The Psalms by P. Hately Waddell—partly to illustrate New Scotch
forms, but also because they help to show the dialectal provenience
of loanwords. Norse elements in the Northern dialects of Lowland
Scotch, those of Caithness and Insular Scotland, are not represented
in this work. My list of loanwords is probably far from complete.
A few early Scottish texts I have not been able to examine. These as
well as the large number of vernacular writings of the last 150
years will have to be examined before anything like completeness can
be arrived at.
I have adopted certain tests of form, meaning, and distribution.
With regard to the test of the form of a word great care must be
exercised. Old Norse and Old Northumbrian have a great many
characteristics in common, and some of these are the very ones in
which Old Northumbrian differs from West Saxon. It has, consequently,
in not a few cases, been difficult to decide whether a word
is a loanword or not. Tests that apply in the South prove nothing
for the North. Brate rightly regarded leȝȝkenn in the Ormulum as
a Scandinavian loanword, but in Middle Scotch laiken or laken
would be the form of the word whether Norse or genuine English.
Certain well-known tests of form, however, first formulated by
Brate, such as ou for O. E. ea, or the assimilation
of certain consonants
apply as well to Scotch as to Early Middle English. The
distribution of a word in English dialects frequently helps to ascertain
its real history, and may become a final test where those of
form and meaning leave us in doubt. In the study of Norse or
Scandinavian influence on Lowland Scotch the question of Gaelic
vi
influence cannot be overlooked. The extent of Norse influence on
Celtic in Caithness, Sutherland and the Western Highlands, has
never been ascertained, nor the influence of Celtic on Lowland
Scotch. A large number of Scandinavian loanwords are common
to Gaelic, Irish, and Lowland Scotch. It is possible that some of
these have come into Scotch through Gaelic and not directly from
Norse. Perhaps faid, "a company of hunters," is such a word.
There are no works bearing directly on the subject of Scandinavian
elements in Lowland Scotch proper. J. Jakobsen's work,
"Det norrøne
Sprog på Shetland," has sometimes given me valuable hints. From
Brate's well-known work on the Ormulum I have derived a great deal
of help. Steenstrup's "Danelag" has been of assistance to me, as
also Kluge's "Geschichte der englischen Sprache" in Paul's
Grundriss, the latter especially with regard to characteristics of
Northern English. Wall's work on "Scandinavian Elements in English
Dialects" has been especially helpful because of the excellent list
of loanwords given. In many cases, however, my own investigations
have led me to different conclusions, principally with regard to
certain tests and the dialectal provenience of loanwords. Finally,
the excellent editions of Scottish texts published by the S.T.S.
and the E.E.T.S. have made the work less difficult than it otherwise
would have been. I may mention particularly "The Bruce," Dunbar, and
Montgomery, where Scandinavian elements are very prominent.
vii
K.Q. = The "Kingis Quair" of James I., ed. W.W. Skeat. S.T.S. 1.
Dunbar = Bishop Dunbar's Works, ed. by John Small, R.J.G.
Mackay and W. Gregor. S.T.S. 2, 4, 16, 21, 29.
Rolland = "The Court of Venus" by John Rolland, ed. W. Gregor.
S.T.S. 3.
Dalr. = Leslie's History of Scotland, translated by Dalrymple,
ed. E.G. Cody. S.T.S. 5, 14, 19, 34.
Wallace = Henry the Minstrel's "Wallace," ed. James Moir.
S.T.S. 6, 7, 17.
Montg. = Alexander Montgomery's Poems, ed. James Cranstoun.
S.T.S. 9, 10, 11.
Gau = "Richt way to the hevinlie Kingdom," by John Gau, ed. A.F.
Mitchell. S.T.S. 12.
Winyet = "Certain Tractates," by Ninian Winyet, ed. J.K. Hewison.
S.T.S. 15, 52.
Sat. P. = Satirical Poems of the Time of the Reformation, ed.
J. Cranstoun. S.T.S. 20, 24, 28, 30.
Buchanan = Vernacular Writings of George Buchanan, ed. P.H. Brown.
S.T.S. 26.
Bruce = Barbour's "Bruce," ed. W.W. Skeat.
E.E.T.S. Extra Series II, 21, 29.
Lyndsay = Sir David Lyndsay's Works, containing "The Monarchie,"
"Squire Meldrum," "The Dream," and "Ane Satire of the Three Estates,"
ed. F. Hall. E.E.T.S. 11, 19, 35, 37.
C.S.= "The Complaynt of Scotland," ed. J.A.H. Murray.
E.E.T.S. 17.
L.L.= "Lancelot of the Laik," ed. W.W. Skeat.
E.E.T.S. 6.
viii
R.R. = "Ratis Raving" and other Moral and Religious Pieces in Prose
and Verse, ed. J. Rawson Lumby. E.E.T.S. 43.
Douglas = The Poetical Works of Gawain Douglas in 4 vols.,
ed. John Small. Edinburgh. 1874.
Wyntoun
= "The Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland," by Andrew of Wyntoun,
ed. David McPherson. 2 vols. London. 1795.
R. and L. = "Roswell and Lillian," ed. O. Lengert.
Englische Studien 16.
Gol. and Gaw. = "Golagros and Gawain," ed. Moritz Trautmann.
Anglia II.
Scott = The Poems of Alexander Scott, ed. Andrew Laing. Edinburgh. 1821.
Philotus = "Philotus, A Comedy imprinted at Edinburgh by Robert
Charters, 1603." Published by the Bannatyne Club. Edinburgh. 1835.
Anc. Pro. = Collection of Ancient Scottish Prophecies in Alliterative
Verse, 1603. Published by the Bannatyne Club. 1833.
Poet. Rem. = The Poetical Remains of Some of the Scottish Kings,
containing "Peblis to the Play," "Christ's Kirk on the Green,"
"The Gaberlunzie Man," and "Ane Ballad of Good Council," ed. George Chalmers.
London. 1824.
Sco. Poems = Scottish Poems in 3 vols. containing "The Tales of the
Priests of Peblis," "Ballads" (1508), Holland's "Howlate," "The Bloody
Sark" of Robert Henrison, and "Sir Gawain and Sir Galaron" of Galloway.
London. 1792.
A.P.B.S. = Ancient Popular Ballads and Songs, ed. Robert Jamieson.
Edinburgh. 1806.
Fergusson = The Works of Robert Fergusson, ed. David Irving. Greenock. 1810.
Irving = History of Scottish Poetry, containing a number of
extracts, ed. David Irving. Edinburgh. 1874.
Scotticisms = Scotticisms Corrected. London. 1855.
Ramsay = The Poems of Allan Ramsay, in 2 vols. Printed by
A. Strahan for T. Cadwell and W. Davies. London. 1800.
Burns = The Works of Robert Burns, ed. Dr. Adolphus Wagner.
Leipzig. 1835.
Isaiah = Isaiah, frae Hebrew intil Scottis, by P. Hately Waddell.
Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1879.
ix
Psalms = The Psalms, frae Hebrew intil Scottis, by P. Hately
Waddell. Edinburgh and Glasgow. 1891.
M.W. = "Mansie Wauch," by D.M. Moir. Edinburgh.
1898. Centenary Edition.
J.G. = "Johnnie Gibb of Gushetneuk," by William Alexander
(1871). Edinburgh. 1897.
Aasen = Norsk Ordbog, af Ivar Aasen. Christiania. 1873. Generally
referred to as Norse.
B-T. = The Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Referred to
generally as Old English.
B-S. = Bradley's Stratmann's Middle English Dictionary. References
to Middle English forms are to B-S., unless otherwise specified.
Brate = "Nordische Lehnwörter im Ormulum." Paul und Braunes
Beiträge, X. 1885.
Brem. W. = Bremisch-Niedersächsisches Wörterbuch. Bremen. 1767.
Bouterwek = Die vier Evangelien in alt-nordhumbrischer Sprache.
Karl Bouterwek. Gütersloh. 1857.
Cl. and V. = Cleasby and Vigfusson's Icelandic-English Dictionary.
Oxford. 1874. Old Norse words have been taken largely from Cl. and V.
Cook = A Glossary of the Old Northumbrian Gospels. A.S. Cook.
Halle. 1894.
Craigie = Oldnordiske Ord i de gæliske Sprog. W.A. Craigie,
in Arkiv for nordisk Filologie X. pp. 149ff.
Curtis = An Investigation of the Rimes and Phonology of the
Middle Scotch Romance "Clariodus," by F.J. Curtis, in Anglia
XVI and XVII.
Dickinson = A Glossary of the Words and Phrases of Cumberland.
William Dickinson. Whitehaven and London. 1859.
D.S.C.S. = The Dialect of the Southern Counties of Scotland,
by J.A.H. Murray. London. 1873.
x
Egge = Norse words in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Albert Egge.
Pullman, Washington. 1898.
E.D.D. = The English Dialect Dictionary, A to C, ed. Joseph
Wright. Oxford. 1898.
Ellis = On Early English Pronunciation. Vol. 5, by Alexander
J. Ellis. Early English Text Society, Extra Series 56.
Fritzner = Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog. Johan Fritzner.
Christiania. 1886-1896.
Gibson = The Folkspeech of Cumberland, by A.C. Gibson. London. 1873.
Haldorson = Lexicon Islandico-Latino-Danicum, Biornonis
Haldorsonii. Havniae. 1814.
Jakobsen = Det norrøne Sprog på Shetland, by J. Jakobsen.
Köbenhavn. 1897. Shetland dialect forms are generally taken
from this work.
Jamieson = Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language.
Jellinghaus = Angelsächsisch-Neuenglische Wörter, die nicht niederdeutsch
sind, by H. Jellinghaus, in Anglia XX. Pp. 46-466.
Kalkar = Ordbog til det ældre danske Sprog. Otto Kalkar.
Köbenhavn. 1881-1892.
Lindelöf = Glossar zur altnordhumbrischen Evanglienübersetzung
in der Rushworth-Handschrift (in Acta Societatis Scientiarum
Fennicae Tome XXII., No. 5), von Uno Lindelöf. Helsingfors. 1897.
Kluge P. G.2 I. = Kluge's "Geschichte der englischen
Sprache," in Paul's Grundriss, 2 Auflage, I Band.
Kluge and Lutz = English Etymology, by F. Kluge and F. Lutz.
Strassburg. 1898.
Koolman = Wörterbuch der ostfriesischen
Sprache. J. ten Doornkaat
Koolman. Norden. 1879-1884. Sometimes cited as Low German.
Luik = Untersuchungen zur englischen Lautgeschichte. Strassburg. 1896.
Molbech = Dansk Ordbog. C. Molbech. Kjöbenhavn. 1859. Referred to
generally as Danish.
N.E.D. = The New English Dictionary, A to Frankish, ed. J.A.H. Murray.
Noreen P. G.2 I. = Noreen's "Geschichte der nordischen
Sprachen," in Paul's Grundriss, 2 Auflage, 1 Band.
xi
Kluge =
Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.
Friedrich Kluge.
Strassburg. 1894.
Richthofen (or O. F.) = Altfriesisches Wörterbuch, von Karl
Freiherrn von Richthofen. Göttingen. 1840.
Rietz (or Sw. dial.) = Svenskt Dialekt-Lexikon. J.E. Rietz.
Malmö. 1867.
Ross = Norsk Ordbog. Tillæg til Ivar Aasen's Ordbog. Hans Ross.
Christiania. 1895.
Schiller und Lübben = Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch. Bremen.
1875-1880. Cited as M.L.G.
Schlyter = Glossarium til Skånelagen (Sveriges Gamle Lagar IX.).
C.J. Schlyter. Lund. 1859.
O.S. = Old Saxon. Schmellers Glossarium Saxonicum e Poemate Heliand.
Tübingae. 1840.
Sievers = Altenglische Grammatik. Eduard Sievers. 3 Auflage. 1898.
Skeat = Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. Oxford.
1882; and Concise Etymological Dictionary. Oxford. 1897.
Skeat's list = A List of English Words, the Etymology of which
is illustrated by Comparison with Icelandic. W.W. Skeat. Oxford. 1876.
Steenstrup = Danelag (Vol. IV. of "Normannerne"). J.C.H.R.
Steenstrup. Kjöbenhavn. 1882.
Sweet = Student's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Henry Sweet. Oxford. 1897.
Söderwall = Ordbok öfver svenska Medeltids Språket, A to L.
K.F. Söderwall. Lund. 1884-1890.
Thorkelson = Supplement til islandske Ordböger. Jon Thorkelson.
Reykjavik. 1876-1897.
Wall = "Scandinavian Elements in the English Dialects,"
by Arnold Wall. Anglia XX.
Worsaae = Minder om de Danske og Normændene i England, Skotland,
og Irland, af J.J.A. Worsaae. Kjöbenhavn. 1851.
adj. = adjective.
adv. = adverb.
xii
cp. = compare.
conj. = conjunction.
Cu. = Cumbrian, Cumberland.
Dan. = New or Modern Danish.
dem. pr. = demonstrative pronoun.
deriv. = derivative.
dial. = dialect, dialectal.
diall. = dialects.
E. Norse = East Norse.
Eng. = English, standard speech.
Far. = Faroese.
Fr. = French.
Gael. = Gaelic.
Germ. = German.
Gmc. = Germanic.
Goth. = Gothic.
id. = the same.
inf. = infinitive.
Ir. = Irish.
L. G. = Low German.
M. Dan. = Middle Danish.
M. Du. = Middle Dutch.
M. E. = Middle English.
M. H. G. = Middle High German.
M. L. G. = Middle Low German.
M. Sco. = Middle Scotch.
M. Sw. = Middle Swedish.
Norse = New or Modern Norse.
N. Sco. = Modern Scotch dialects.
O. Dan. = Old Danish.
O. E. = Old English.
O. F. = Old Frisian.
O. Fr. = Old French.
O. Ic. = Old Icelandic.
O. N. = Old Norse.
O. Nh. = Old Northern.
O. Nhb. = Old Northumbrian.
O. S. = Old Saxon.
O. Sw. = Old Swedish.
p. = page; pp. = pages.
p. p. = past participle.
pr. p. = present participle.
pret. = preterite.
pron. = pronounced.
prep. = preposition.
pl. = plural.
q.v. = quod vide.
Scand. = Scandinavian.
Sco. = Scotch.
S. S. = Southern Scotland.
sb. = substantive.
Sw. = Swedish.
vb. = verb.
W. Norse = West Norse.
W. Scand. = West Scandinavian.
W. S. = West Saxon.
> = developed into.
< = derived from.
E.D.S. = English Dialect Society.
E.E.T.S. = Early English Text Society.
S.T.S. = Scottish Text Society.
xiii
There has been considerable confusion in the use of the terms
Norse and Danish. Either has been used to include the other, or,
again, in a still wider sense, as synonymous with Scandinavian; as,
for instance, when we speak of the Danish kingdoms in Dublin, or
Norse elements in Anglo-Saxon. Danish is the language of Denmark,
Norse the language of Norway. When I use the term Old
Danish I mean that dialect of Old Scandinavian, or Old Northern,
that developed on Danish soil. By Old Norse I mean the old language
of Norway. The one is East Scandinavian, the other West
Scandinavian. The term Scandinavian, being rather political than
linguistic, is not a good one, but it has the advantage of being
clear, and I have used it where the better one, Northern, might lead
to confusion with Northern Scotch.
xiv
xv
A List of Scandinavian Loanwords taken chiefly from "The Bruce,"
"The Wallace," Wyntoun's Chronicle, Dunbar, Douglas, Lyndsay,
Alexander Scott, Montgomery, Ramsay and Burns.
1
INTRODUCTION.
Worsaae's list of 1400 place-names in England gives us an idea
of the extent, as well as the distribution of Scandinavian settlements
in the 9th and 10th centuries. How long Scandinavian was spoken
in England we do not know, but it is probable that it began to
merge into English at an early date. The result was a language
largely mixed with Norse and Danish elements. These are especially
prominent in the M. E. works "Ormulum," "Cursor
Mundi," and "Havelok." We have historical records of the
Danes in Central and Eastern England. We have no such records
of Scandinavian settlements in Northwestern England, but that they
took place on an extensive scale 300 place-names in Cumberland
and Westmoreland prove. In Southern Scotland, there are only
about 100 Scandinavian place-names, which would indicate that such
settlements here were on a far smaller scale than in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire,
or Cumberland—which inference, however, the large
number of Scandinavian elements in Early Scotch seems to disprove.
I have attempted to ascertain how extensive these elements
are in the literature of Scotland. It is possible that the settlements
were more numerous than place-names indicate, that they took
place at a later date, for instance, than those in Central England.
Brate showed that the general character of Scandinavian loanwords
in the Ormulum is East Scandinavian. Wall concludes that
it is not possible to determine the exact source of the loanwords in
modern English dialects because "the dialect spoken by the
Norsemen and the Danes at the time of settlement had not become
sufficiently differentiated to leave any distinctive trace in the loanwords
borrowed from them, or (that) neither race preponderated in
any district so far as to leave any distinctive mark upon the dialect
of the English peasantry." It is true that the general character of
2the language of the two
races was at the time very much the same,
but some very definite dialectal differentiations had already taken
place, and I believe the dialectal provenience of a very large number
of the loanwords can be determined. Furthermore, the distribution
of certain place-names indicates that certain parts were
settled more especially by Danes, others by Norsemen. The larger
number of loanwords in Wall's "List A" seem to me to be Danish.
My own list of loanwords bears a distinctively Norse stamp,
as I shall show in Part III. of this work. This we should also expect,
judging from the general character of Scandinavian place-names
in Southern Scotland.
Cumberland and Westmoreland, together covering an area equal
to about two-thirds that of Yorkshire, have 300 Scandinavian place-names.
Yorkshire has 407 according to Worsaae's table. The
character of these names in Cumberland and Westmoreland is different
from that of those in the rest of England. It seems that
these counties were settled predominantly by Norsemen and also
perhaps at a later date than that which we accept for the settlements
in York and Lincolnshire. We know that as early as 795 Norse vikings
began their visits to Ireland; that they settled and occupied
the Western Isles about that time; that in 825 the Faroes were
first colonized by Norsemen, partly from the Isles. After 870 Iceland
was settled by Norsemen from Norway, but in part also from
the Western Isles and Ireland. The 'Austmen' in Ireland, especially
Dublin, seem frequently to have visited the opposite shore.
It seems probable that Northwestern England was settled chiefly
by Norsemen from Ireland, Man, and the Isles on the west. It is
not likely that any settlements took place before 900. It seems
more probable that they belong rather to the second quarter of the
10th Century or even later, when the Irish began successfully to
assert themselves against the Norse kings in Dublin and Waterford.
Perhaps some may have taken place even as late as the end of the
10th Century.
In Southern Scotland, Dumfriesshire, Eastern Kircudbright and
Western Roxburgh seem to have formed the center of Scandinavian
3settlements; so, at any rate,
the larger number of place-names
would indicate. The dialect spoken here is in many respects very
similar to that of Northwestern England, D. 31 in Ellis, and the
general character of the place-names is the same. These are, however,
far fewer than in Northwestern England. Worsaae gives
a list of about 30. This list is not exhaustive. From additional
sources, rather incomplete, I have been able to add about 80
more Scandinavian place-names that occur in Southern Scotland,
most of them of the same general character as those in Northwestern
England. Among them: Applegarth, Cogarth, Auldgirth,
Hartsgarth, Dalsgairth, Tundergarth, Stonegarthside, Helbeck,
Thornythwaite, Twathwaite, Robiethwaite, Murraythwaite, Lockerby,
Alby, Denbie, Middlebie, Dunnabie, Wysebie, Perceby,
Newby, Milby, Warmanbie, Sorbie, Canoby, Begbie, Sterby,
Crosby, Bushby, Magby, Pockby, Humbie, Begbie, Dinlaybyre,
Maybole, Carnbo, Gateside, Glenholm, Broomholm, Twynholm,
Yetholm, Smailholm, Langholm, Cogar, Prestwick, Fenwick,
Howgate, Bowland, Arbigland, Berwick, Southwick, Corstorphine,
Rowantree, Eggerness, Southerness, Boness, etc. There are in all
about 110 such place-names, with a number of others that may be
either English or Scandinavian. The number of Scandinavian elements
in Southern Scotch is, however, very great and indicates
larger settlements than can be inferred from place-names alone.
In the case of early settlements these will generally represent fairly
well the extent of settlement. But where they have taken place
comparatively late, or where they have been of a more peaceful nature,
the number of new names of places that result from them may
not at all indicate their extent. The Scandinavians that settled in
Southern Scotland probably at no time exceeded in number the
native population. The place-names would then for the most part
remain unchanged. The loanwords found in Southern Scotch and
the names of places resemble those of Northwestern England. The
same Northern race that located in Cumberland and Westmoreland
also located in Scotland. It is probable, as Worsaae believed, that
it is a second migration, chiefly from Cumberland. Dumfriesshire,
at any rate, may have been settled in this way. The settlers of
Kircudbright and Wigtown were probably largely from the Isles on
the west. Other independent settlements were made in Lothian
and the region about the Forth. That these are all later than those
4of Cumberland and Westmoreland
is probable. According to what
has been said above, the settlements in Dumfries, which seem to
have been the earliest, could not have taken place before about
the second quarter of the 10th Century, and probably were made
later. The other settlements in Southern Scotland may extend even
into the 11th Century. The name Dingwall (O. N. Ðingvöllr) in
Dumfries, the place where the laws were announced annually, indicates
a rather extensive settlement in Dumfries, and the dialect of
Dumfries is also characterized by a larger number of Scandinavian
elements than the rest of the Southern counties.
That the Danes were more numerous than the Norsemen in Central
and Eastern England from Northumberland down to the
Thames there can be no doubt. The distinctive Norse names fell,
tarn and force do not occur at all, while
thorpe and toft, which are
as distinctively Danish, are confined almost exclusively to this section.
In Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland
and Lancashire thorpe is comparatively rare, while
toft is not found at all. On the other hand, fell,
dale, force, haugh, and tarn (O. N.
fjall, dalr, foss and fors,
haugr, tjörn) occur in large numbers
in Northwestern England. Beck may be either Danish or Norse,
occurs, however, chiefly in the North. Thwaite Worsaae regarded
as Danish "because it occurs generally along with the Danish
by." We find, however, that this is not exactly the case. In Lincolnshire
there are 212 by's, in Leicestershire 66, in Northampton
26; thwaite does not occur at all. In Yorkshire there are
167 names in by and only 8 in thwaite, and 6 of these are in West
Riding. It is only in Cumberland and Westmoreland that the proportions
are nearly the same, but on by see below § 5. Tveit is
far more common in Norway than tved in Denmark. The form
of the word in place-names in England is, furthermore, more Norse
than Danish. In the earliest Scandinavian settlements in England,
those of Lincolnshire, for instance, thwaite might be Danish if it
occurred, for monophthongation of æi to e did not take place in
Danish before about the end of the 9th Century; by about 900
this was complete (see § 6). The Scandinavian settlements in
Northwestern England, however, did not take place so early,
con5sequently if these names
were Danish and not Norse we should expect
to find thwet, or thweet (tweet),
in place of thwaite. It is
then to be regarded as Norse and not Danish. Thwaite occurs
almost exclusively in Northwestern England—43 times in Cumberland
as against 3 in the rest of England south of Yorkshire. Garth
(O. N. garðr, O. Dan. gardh,
later gaard), occurs very often in
Cumberland. With, ness, holm, land,
and how, do not occur very
often. How reminds one of the Jutish höw in Modern Danish dialect.
The rest of these may be either Danish or Norse. In Yorkshire
we find a mixed condition of affairs. East Riding, as we
should expect, has predominantly Danish names. Thorpe, which
occurs 63 times in Lincolnshire, is found 48 times in East Riding.
Fell, tarn and haugh do not occur.
Force is found twice, and
thwaite once. Dale, however, occurs 12 times. West Riding
was probably settled by Danes from the East and by Norsemen from
the West. Thorpe occurs 29 times, with 8,
toft 2, beck 4, fell 15,
thwaite 6, dale 12, and tarn 2.
In North Riding thorpe occurs 18
times. Force, fell, and tarn together 12.
The large number of names in dale in North Riding
is rather striking (40 in all), as compared
with 52 for Westmoreland and Cumberland. While dale is
predominantly Norse, it may perfectly well be Danish, and it is not
rare in Denmark. Furthermore, the greater number of dales in
Norway as compared with Denmark is largely accounted for by the
nature of the country. No conclusions can be drawn from names
in force in Yorkshire, Cumberland and Westmoreland, as it is of too
infrequent occurrence. Fell occurs 22 times in York, as against
57 in Cumberland and Westmoreland (42 in Westmoreland alone),
but in York occurs predominantly in West Riding, where everything
points to a mixed settlement. The distribution of tarn is interesting.
Tarn is as distinctively Norse as thorpe is Danish. It
occurs 24 times in Cumberland and Westmoreland, 3 in North Riding,
and is not found at all south of Westmoreland
and York.
By has been regarded as a sign of Danish settlement for the following
reasons: (1) O. N. bör would have given bo.
The O. Dan. form býr becomes by. (2) By
is peculiar to Denmark, rare in Norway.
(3) Bö or bo is the form found in Insular Scotland, in the
Faroes and other Norse settlements. First, the form bỳr is not
ex6clusively O. Dan.
It occurs several times in Old Norse sagas in the
form býr and bý—in "Flateyarbók," III., 290, in "Fagrskinna"
41, several times in the "Heimskringla," as well as elsewhere.
Again, J. Vibe (see Nordisk Tidskrift, 1884, 535, and Norsk Historisk
Tidskrift, 2 Række, 5 Bind), has shown that by is not peculiar
to Denmark and rare in Norway. It occurs 600-700 times in
Denmark and Skåne, and 450 times in Norway. Finally, by is often
found in Norse settlements in Scotland and elsewhere—in Iceland,
Shetland, Orkney, Man, and in the Western Isles. In fact, by seems
to be the more common form outside of Iceland. All we can say
then is that by is more Danish than Norse, but may also be Norse.
Where names in by are numerous it indicates that the settlements
are rather Danish, but they may also be Norse. We have, then,
the following results: Predominantly Danish settlements: Essex,
Bedford, Buckingham, Suffolk, Norfolk, Northampton, Leicester,
Rutland, Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, East Riding. Mixed Norse
and Danish settlements: North Riding, West Riding, Durham,
part of Cheshire, and Southern Lancashire. Norse settlements:
Cumberland, Westmoreland, North Lancashire, part of Cheshire,
and parts of Northumberland. The number of Scandinavian
place-names in Northumberland is not large, only 22 in Worsaae's
list. North of the Cheviot Hills the names are again predominantly
Norse.
On the characteristics of primitive Northern and the changes that
had taken place in the language before the Viking period, see
Noreen, P. G.2 I, 521-526. On pp. 523-526 are
summarized the characteristics of General Northern. Until 800 the Northern
tongue was unitary throughout the Scandinavian North. In the
Viking age dialectal differentiations began to appear, especially in
O. Dan. These are as follows (from Noreen):
About 800, older hr > r in Denmark.
Soon after 800, older diphthongs became simplified
in Denmark, e.g.,
au > u cp. O. Ic. þau,
O. Gutnic þaun = O. Dan. þusi pronounced þøsi.
7
ai, ei > i cp. O. Ic. stein,
O. N. stæin, O. Gtnc. stain = O. Dan. stin.
io, iau > u cp.
O. N., O. Ic. briote, O. Gtnc. briauti =
O. Dan. biruti.
Before 1000, ē > æ
cp. O. N., O. Ic. sér = O. Dan. sær
(written sar).
About 1,000, appears in
O. Sw.—O. Dan. an excrescent d between
nn and r, e.g., mantr, pronounced mandr
(see Noreen, p. 526).
Not until the year 1,000, or the beginning of the 11th Century,
do dialectal differentiations seem to be fully developed.
O. N., which in general preserves best the characteristics of the old
Northern speech, undergoes at this time a few changes that differentiate
Dan. and Norse still more. O. Sw. remains throughout
closer to O. Dan. The two together are therefore called East
Scandinavian. Old Icelandic, that is, Norse on Icelandic soil, develops
its own forms, remaining, however, in the main very similar
to O. N. These two are then called West Scandinavian. The
following are some of the chief differences between West and East
Scandinavian at the time (from Noreen, P. G.2 I, 527):
1. I—(R) and U—Umlaut in W. S.
Absence of
it in E. S., e.g.,
|
W. S. hældr
3 sg. pres. of halda, "to hold."
W. S. i gær, "yesterday,"
W. S. lǫnd, pl. "land,"
|
E. S. halder.
E. S. i gar.
E. S. land.
|
2. Development of i, e, y into a consonantal
i in diphthongs in W. S.,
not so in E. S., e.g.,
|
W. S. siá, "to see,"
W. S. fiánde, "enemy,"
W. S. biár, "of a village,"
|
E. S. sēa.
E. S. fiande.
E. S. býar.
|
3. Assimilation of mp, nk, nt, respectively,
to pp, kk, tt in W. S.,
retention of them in E. S., e.g.,
|
W. S. kroppen, "crippled,"
W. S. ækkia, "widow,"
W. S. batt, "bound,"
pret. of binda,
|
E. S. krumpin.
E. S. ankia.
E. S. binda.
|
4. The Medio-passive:
|
W. S. sk, e.g., kallask,
|
E. S. s, kallas.
|
5. Pronominal forms:
|
W. S. ek, vér (mér), ér (þer), sem,
|
E. S. iak, vīr, īr, sum.
|
8
Assimilation of mp to pp and nk to kk
appears also quite early in Danish and Swedish, e.g., kap
(kapp) and drocken (see Kalkar), kapp and
drokken (Sw.). U—Umlaut seems to be more limited in
O. N. than in O. Ic. O. Ic. hl, hn,
hr initially appear early as simple l, n,
r in O. N. (see Noreen 528), e.g., O. Ic.
hlaupa, O. N. loupa; O. Ic. hniga,
O. N. niga; O. Ic. hringr, O. N.
ringr; O. Ic. fn appears in O. N. as bn
or mn, e.g., O. Ic. nafn, O. N. namn
(N. Norse navn, nabn, namn). Initial
hv, which was a heavy guttural spirant, became kv
in Western Norway, kv and khv in Iceland (though
written hv still), e.g., O. N., O. Ic. hvelva,
Norse kvelva. O. N. ø became æ in Iceland,
døma > dæma. O. N. æi became ei
in Iceland, e.g., O. N. stæin > O. Ic.
stein, O. N. bæin > O. Ic. bein
(stin and bin in O. Dan.).
The following are some of the chief differences between O. Nhb.
and W. S:
1. Preference in O. Nhb. for a
in many cases where W. S. has e.
2. A sometimes appears in closed syllable
where W. S. has æ.
3. A before l + consonant
is not broken to ea (Sievers § 121.3, and Lindelöf:
Die Sprache des Durham Rituals).
4. A before r + consonant
very frequently not broken, cp. arm, farra.
Breaking occurs more often, however.
5. E before l + consonant not
broken in the Ritual (see Lindelöf).
6. E before r + consonant
is broken and appears as either ea or eo, cp. eorthe,
earthe.
7. A before h, ht,
x (hs) becomes
æ. Sievers § 162.1. In W. S. a was broken to ea,
cp. O. Nhb. sax, W. S. seax. This Lindelöf
explains as due to the different quality of the h—in W.
S. it was guttural, hence caused breaking; in Nhb. it was palatal and
hence the preceding a was palatalized to æ.
8. Nhb. umlaut of o is œ.
In W. S. it was
e, cp. dœma, sœca, W. S. dēman,
sēcan. See Sievers §§ 27 and 150.4. Bouterwek CXXVII,
and Lindelöf. This difference was, however, levelled out, Nhb. œ
becoming also e, according to Sievers.
9. Special Nhb. diphthongs ei,
ai, cp. heista,
seista, W. S. hiehsta, siexta.
9
10. Influence of preceding
w was greater than in the South. A diphthong whose second
element was a dark vowel was simplified generally to a dark vowel
(Lindelöf), e.g., weo > wo, wio > wu,
cp. weorld > world, weord > word, etc.
11. W. S. t is represented
quite frequently by
ð or d, regularly so when combined with l,
often so when combined with s. See Lindelöf above.
12. W. S. ð frequently appears
as d in the North; the reverse also occurs. See Bouterwek
CXLII-CXLV. In a few cases ð > t.
13. C before t where W. S.
regularly has h. See Bouterwek.
14. Metathesis of r less extensive
than in W. S.
15. Preceding g, c, sc
did not cause diphthongation in Nhb. as often as in W. S.
16. Generally speaking, less extensive
palatalization in Nhb. than in W. S.
17. Dropping of final n in
infinitives in Northumbrian.
The above characteristics of O. Nhb. will not only explain
a great many later Scotch forms, but also show that a number of
words which have been considered loanwords are genuine English.
Sco. daw, "day," need not necessarily be traced to O. N.
dagr. The W. S. dæg gave Eng. day.
Dæg is also the Northern form. Daw may of course be
due to a in the oblique cases, but according to 2 dag
may have appeared in the nominative case early in the North. This
would develop to daw. Sco. daw, verb, "to dawn," is
easily explained. W. S. dagian > dawn regularly,
Nhb. dagia (see 17 above) > daw. The O. N.
daga, "to dawn," is then out of the question. Sco. mauch,
"a kinsman"; the O. E. form was mæg, which would have
given may. In the North the g was probably not palatal.
Furthermore a Northern form mag would regularly develop to maw,
might also be mauch (cp. law and lawch, adj., "low,"
O. N. lagr). O. N. magr, "kinsman," may, however,
be the source of mauch. Sco. hals is not from O. N.
hals, but from O. Nhb. hals which corresponded to
W. S. heals; Sco. hawse, "to clasp," (Ramsay, II,
257); comes from O. Nhb. halsiga, W. S. healsian.
(Sco. hailse, "to greet," is a different word, see loanword list,
part II.). Forms that appear later in standard English frequently are
found earliest in the North (cp. § 10). No. 13 explains some differences
10in the later pronunciation of Sco. and
Eng. No. 12 is a characteristic that is much more common in Middle and
Early New Scotch. Many words in this way became identical in form with
their Norse cognates, cp. broder, fad(d)er, etc. This
will be discussed later. No. 14, Metathesis of r, was carried
out extensively in W. S. (see Sievers, 179), e.g., beornan
"burn"; iernan, "run"; burn, "a stream"; hors,
"horse"; forsk, "frog"; þerscan, "to thrash";
berstan, "to burst"; fierst, "a space of time,"
(cp. Norse frist, Germ. Frist). This progressive
metathesis of r is very common in the South. In the North,
on the contrary, metathesis of r has taken place before ht
in frohtian, fryhtu, etc. (Sievers, 179, 2). In addition to these
a large number of words appear in Old and Middle Sco. differing from
literary English with regard to metathesis, sometimes showing metathesis
where Eng. does not. A list of words will illustrate this difference:
thyrldom, "thraldom"; thirl, "to enthrall"; fryst,
"first"; brest, "to burst"; thretty, "thirty"; thrid,
"third"; thirl, "to pierce thirl"; gyrs, "grass";
krul, "curl"; drit, "dirt"; warsill, "to wrestle";
scart, "to scratch"; cruddled, "curdled"; birde,
O. E. brid, "offspring." The result is that many of these
words are more like the corresponding O. N. words than the
Anglo-Saxon (cp. O. N. fristr, brenna, Norse
tretti, tredie, etc.), hence they have in many cases
been considered loanwords. Sco. braist and landbrest,
"breakers," (cp. O. N. bresta, landbrest), are not
from the Norse but from the corresponding O. Nhb. words.
Cors which occurs in Gau may be a similar case and like Eng.
cross derived from O. Fr. crois, but Gau otherwise
shows considerable Danish influence and Gau's form may be due to that.
Eng. curl and dirt (from O. Du. krul and
O. N. drit) have undergone metathesis. The Sco. words have not.
Just to what extent g, c, sc were palatalized in
O. Nhb. is not definitely known. Until this has been ascertained the
origin of a number of dialect words in the North will remain uncertain.
The palatal character of g, c, sc in O. E.
was frequently represented by inserting a palatal vowel, generally
e, before the following guttural vowel. Kluge shows (in
Litteraturblatt für germ, und rom. Philo11logie,
1887, 113-114) that the Middle English pronunciation of
crinǧen,
sinǧen, proves early palatalization, which was,
however, not indicated in the writing of the O. E. words cringan,
singan. And in the same way palatalization existed in a great
many words where it was not graphically represented. Initial sc
was always palatalized (Kluge, 114 above). In the MSS. k seems
to represent a guttural, c a palatal sound of older c
(Sievers, 207, 2). Palatalization of c is quite general.
K became palatalized to c in primitive Eng. initially
before front vowels, also before Gmc. e and eu (Kluge,
P. G.2 I, 991). Kluge accepts gutturalizing of a palatal
c before a consonant where this position is the result of
syncopation of a palatal vowel. In the South palatal c became
a fricative ch. According to Kluge it never developed to ch
in Northern England and Scotland, but either remained c or recurred
to a guttural k. The same is true with regard to g. The exact
extent of such palatalization is very difficult to determine. It is possible
that the sound always remained a guttural in the North. We have seen that
c or g did not cause diphthongation of the following vowel
in the North as often as in the South. In view of the fact that
palatalization was not always indicated, this may not prove anything,
but may, however, indicate less palatalization than in the South. The
fact that e or i was sometimes inserted before a following
dark vowel, cp. ahefgia, "gravare," gefragia, "interrogare,"
proves that palatalization in these words, at least, existed.
Wall argues that non-palatalization cannot be regarded as a sign of
Scand. influence and cites a number of words in support of this conclusion
(see Wall, § 30). With regard to dick, "ditch," and sag,
"sedge," Wall is probably right. Those in sk are, however, not so
easily disposed of. The presence of certain words with sk in the
South or those cited in sh in the North does not prove the case.
While the presence of a word in South Eng. diall. is in favor of its
genuine Eng. origin, it does not prove it, for certain words, undoubtedly
Scand., are found in the Southern dialects. Shag, "rough hair,"
Skeat regards as Norse rather than Eng. Scaggy, "shaggy," with
initial sk, I would regard as Norse from O. N. skegg,
not from O. E. sceagga. Shriek Skeat regards as Scand.
Bradley derives it 12from O. L. G.
scricon which is found once in the Heliand. Eng. dial. skrike.
Wall on the other hand derives it from O. E. scricon, since
scric is found. Scric occurs in O. E. as the name of the
shriekbird. The vb. is not found. Whether we regard "shriek" native or not,
scrike is to be derived from O. N. skrika. Skeer
is from O. N. skera; sheer from O. E. sceran.
In form if not in meaning, we have an exact parallel in the M. E.
skir, "bright," from O. N. skir, and schir
from O. E. scir. In a few cases words that seem Scand.
appear with sh, not sk. The etymology of such words,
however, becomes rather doubtful. This is especially the case where
in the Norse word a guttural vowel followed the sk. Where,
however, the Norse or Dan. word had a palatal vowel after the sk
the change to sh is not at all impossible, and here arises the
question of palatalization in O. N. O. N. skiól, pron.
sk-iól, with sk, = Norse skjūl
(pron. shūl). Ski thus becomes sh
in O. N. skilinn, Norse shil, O. N.
skilja, Norse shilja (or skille), O. N.
skipta, Norse shifta. West Norse also shows change of
k to ch before i where the k has been
kept in East Scand., e.g., O. Ic. ekki = W. Norse
(dial.) ikkje or intje, pron. ittje, intje,
Dan. ikke (igge). I between sk and a dark
vowel early became j in Norse, which then gave the preceding
sk something of a palatal nature. The development of O. N.
skiól into shiel in Scotland and England may be explained
in this way, as skiól > shul in Norway. This is, however,
to be understood in this way, that if an i or e followed
the sk, this was in condition to become palatalized, not that it
was at all palatal at the time of borrowing. The sound was then distinctly
guttural, and the guttural character of sk has in nearly every case
been kept in Scand. loanwords in English, for palatalization of O. E.
sc was completed before the period of borrowing. This palatalization
of sk was general in Scotland as well as in England, and such words
in sk must be regarded as Scand. loanwords.
As initial sk, corresponding to O. N. sk, O. E.
sc, is due to Scand. influence, so, in general, medial and final
sk may be also so regarded: cp. here Sco. harsk, "harsh,"
bask (adj.), mensk, forjeskit, etc. The guttural
character of g and k in Sco. is not to be regarded as due
to Scand. influence. Thus mirk, reek, steek,
streek, breek, dik, rike, sark, kirn,
lig, brig, rig, etc., are to be derived from the
cor13responding O. Nhb. words,
not from O. N. There is something of uncertainty in these words,
however, as they all could come from the O. N. O. N. hryggr,
for instance, would become rig in Sco., just as would O. Nhb.
rycg (rygg). O. N. bryggia would become brig,
just as well as O. Nhb. brycg (brygg). The i
after g in bryggia does not hinder this, since, as we know,
the O. N. word was pronounced brygg-ia, not bryddja,
as a later form would be.
After Chaucer, Northumbrian English became a mere popular dialect no
longer represented in literature. But the form of Northumbrian spoken north
of the Tweed, Lowland Scotch, has during the next three hundred years quite
a different history. From the Scottish war of Independence to the Union of
the Crowns, Scotland had its own literary language. It is customary to speak
of three periods of Scottish language and literature as Old, Middle and New:
Old Scotch extending down to about 1450; Middle Scotch to the Union of the
Crowns; and New Scotch covering the period after the Union. This is, of
course, simply a Northern and later form of the Northumbrian we have
discussed above.
There are no monuments in O. Sco. dating back to the 13th or
first half of the 14th Century. The first of any importance that we
have is "The Bruce" of 1375. By this time the language of Scotland
had already undergone many changes that made its general character
quite different from literary or Midland English. None of these changes
tended so much to differentiate the two as the very different development
of O. E. long and short a. In the south O. E. a
> ē (name > nę̄m >
nēm); but O. E. ā >
ǭ, later ō (stān >
stǭn > stōne, hām >
hǭm > hōme). The change of
ā to ǭ (probably about 1200) took place
before that of ă to ā, else they would have
coincided and both developed to ō or ē.
The last is precisely what took place in Scotland. O. Nhb. ă
> ā and early coincided with original ā,
and along with it developed to later ē, as only short
a did in the south. The two appear together in rhyme in Barbour.
Their graphic representation is a, ai, ay. The sound
in Barbour is probably ǣ or ę̄. In "Wallace"
Fr. entré is also 14written entray,
entra. Fr. a and ei and Eng. diphthong ai (<
æg) rhyme regularly with Sco. a, ay, ai, from
O. E. ā. On O. E. and O. N. ā-
and M. Sco. ē-sounds in general see Curtis,
§§ 1-165.
The following (see Curtis §§ 144-145) illustrates the
development of O. E. ă, and ā, in England
and Scotland:
1. Central Scotland.
|
{
{
|
O. E. ă
O. E. ā
|
}
}
|
> an ē-vowel.
|
2. S. Scotland and Ellis's D. 31.2.
in England.
|
{
{
|
O. E. ă
O. E. ā
|
}
}
|
> ē > an i-fracture in
the mdn. diall.
|
3. The rest of Northern England and Midland.
|
{
{
{
{
|
O. E. ă
|
{
{
{
{
|
> an ē-vowel
> ē, later ī-fracture in D 25, 26, 28, 29.
|
|
{
{
|
O. E. ā > ō or ū,
with fracture.
|
4. Southern England
|
{
{
|
O. E. ă > an e-fracture or i-fracture.
O. E. ā > ā > ū
or ō.
|
In 1. O. E. hām >
hēm, năme > nēm.
In 2. hām >
hēm > hiəm, năme >
nēm >
niəm.
In 3. hām > hōm,
hoəm, hoᵘm or hūm with fracture.
năme > nēm.
năme > nēm >
niəm in certain dialects.
In 4. hām > hūm, or hom.
năme > neəm, niəm.
The intermediate stage of this development, however, is explained
in two ways. According to Curtis it was (in 2) ā
> ę̄ > ē
> ī > iə. Luik (§ 244) shows that
das Vorrücken zum Vocalextrem
ist an die Abstumpfung gebunden; wir finden es nur dort,
wo auch Abstumpfung zu constatieren ist, wäbrend diese selbst ein
weiteres Gebiet hat. Schon daraus folgt, dass die Abstumpfung
das Primäre ist, dass also ihre Basis e war, nicht i.
Dies wird bestätigt
durch eine einfache Erwägung. Hätte die Abstumpfung die
Lautstufe i ergriffen, so hätte sie auch das e
treffen müssen, das ja
schon seit Beginn der neuenglischen Zeit in allen Dialekten durch i
vertreten ist. Endlich bieten die frühesten Zeugnisse nur e, nicht
i, auch für solche Striche, die heute i haben.
According to this, 15then, the development
is more probably ā̆ > ę̄ >
ēə > iə, or, as
Luik thinks, ā̆ > æ > æə,
or ę̄ə > ēə > iə
Another Northern peculiarity relates to O. E.
ō. While in the south O. E. ō
developed to an ū-vowel or an
ū-fracture, in Scotland
it became ee (ui, ee, i). The process involved
here does not yet seem to be fully understood. The modern dialect of Aberdeen
is most pronounced in this respect, older i also frequently becoming
u, o. The following examples taken from "Johnnie Gibb" (Aberdeen.
1871) will illustrate:
1. Words with an u (o)-vowel in English
that have i
in Aberdeen dialect: ither, "other"; mither, "mother";
tribble (O. Fr. troble), "trouble"; kwintra
(O. Fr. contree), "country"; dis,
"does" (3. s. of "do"); hiz, "us"; dizzen (O. Fr.
dozaine), "dozen"; sipper (O. Fr. soper),
"supper." Here we may also include, pit, "to put"; fit,
"foot." Buik, "book," seems to
show the intermediate stage, cp. also tyeuk, "took." On the
other hand O. E. broðer > breeder;
(ge)-don > deen; judge (O. Fr.
juger) > jeedge, all of which have a short vowel in English
recent speech.
2. Words with ĭ in Eng. that have ŭ
in Aberdeen dialect: full,
"to fill"; spull, "to spill"; buzness
(cp. O. E. bȳsig), "business";
wutness, "witness"; wull, "will" (vb.);
wunna, "will not";
wutty, "witty"; chucken, "chicken";
fusky (Gael. usquebah),
"whiskey"; sun, "sin."
3. Words with ōō
(or iu) in Eng. have ee (ī) in Aberdeen
dialect: seer (O. Fr. sur), "sure"; seen,
"soon"; refeese (O.
Fr. refuser), "refuse"; peer (O. Fr. poure),
"poor"; yeel (M. E.
ȝole), "yule"; reed (O. E. rōd),
"rood"; eese (O. Fr. us),
"use"; shee (O. E. scēo), "shoe";
adee, "ado"; tee, "too";
aifterneen, "afternoon"; skweel, "school";
reet (O. E. rōt),
"root"; constiteetion, "constitution." Cp. also
gweed (O. E. gōd), "good." The w
in gweed, skweel, shows again the process
of change from o to ee. U in buik and
w in kwintra also seem to
represent the u-element that is left in the sound. In words like
refeese, keerious, etc., where ee is from Fr.
u, the sound is quite easily
explained. So fusky from usquebah. Full,
from O. E. fyllan, and
buzness are interesting.
16
Many words have developed a y where originally there was none.
This phenomenon is, however, closely connected with e-i-fracture
from original ā̆. Y we find appears often before a
(from original ā̆). It is, then, simply the development of the
e-i-fracture into a consonant + a, and may be represented
thus: O. E. āc ("oak") > ę̄c >
ēc > ēəc > iəc
> yak. (See also Murray D.S.C.S., 105). Cp. yance and
yence, "once"; yell, "ale"; yak, "ache." This also
appears in connection with fracture other than that from O. E.
ā: cp. yirth, yird, for "earth."
This appears in a number of words: e.g., ledder, "leather";
fader (in Gau),fadder, "father"; moder,
mudder, "mother";
broder, brudder, "brother"; lidder (A.S.
liðre); de (Gau), "the"
(article); widdie (O. E. wiðig), "withy";
dead, "death"; ferde,
"fourth"; etc. In some works this tendency is quite general. Norse
loanwords as a rule keep the spirant, but in the following loanwords
ð has become d: cleed, cleeding,
"clothe, clothing," from O. N.
klæða; red, "to clear up," O. N. ryðja;
bodin, O. N. boðinn (? See
E.D.D.); bud, "bribe," O. N. boð; heid,
"brightness," O. N.
hæið; eident, "busy," O. N. iðinn
(ythand is, however, the more
common Sco. form); bledder, "to prate," O. N.
blaðra (more commonly
blether in Sco.); byrd, "ought," O. N.
burði; stiddy, O. N.
steði. I do not think ryde, "severe," can be
derived from O. N.
reiðr; and frody, "wise," is rather O. E.
frod than O. N. fróðr.
Waith, O. N. væiðr, has kept the spirant,
but faid, a "company
of hunters," has changed it to d. Faid probably comes in from
Gaelic. I have called attention to this change of ð to d in Sco.,
since many words affected by it have become almost identical in
form with their Scand. cognates and have consequently been considered
loan-words. See § 23.
Certain Eng. dialect words in ē corresponding to O. E.
ā have been considered Scand. loanwords. We have, however,
seen that in the north O. E. ā > ē
just as did O. N. æi (ei). How many of these words are
genuine English and how many are loanwords
be17comes,
then, rather uncertain. Wall argues that the Norse words were always in
M. E. spelled with a diphthong, while the genuine English words were
spelled with an a—thus bain, baisk from
O. N. bæinn, bæiskr, but hame, stane,
hale from O. E. hām, stān,
hāl. If this were always the case we should have here
a safe test. It is, however, a fact that in Scottish texts at least,
no such consistency exists with regards to these words. The following
variant spellings will show this: hame, haim, haym;
stain, stane, stayne; hal, hale, hail,
hayle; lak, lake, laik, layk;
blake, blaik, blayk, etc., etc. There is, however,
another way in which to determine which of such words are loanwords and
which are not. In Southern Scotland in D. 33, and in Northwestern England
(D. 31), O. N. æi and O. E. ā
did not coincide, but have been kept distinct down to the present time
(see Ellis's word-lists and Luik, 220, 221). In these two dialects
O. E. ā developed to an i-fracture
(see § 16.2), while O. N. æi never went beyond the
e-stage, and remains an e-vowel in the modern dialects.
Here, then, we have a perfectly safe test for a large number of words.
Those that have in D. 31 and D. 33 an i-vowel or an
i-fracture are genuine English, those that have an e-vowel
are Scandinavian loanwords. Ellis's list offers too few examples of words
of this class. We find hi'm, bi'n, hi'l, sti'n, and
in Murray's D.S.C.S. heame, and heale (beside geate
(O. N. gata), beath, meake, tweae,
neame, etc.). This then proves that Sco. haim, bain,
hail, and stain are from O. E. hām,
bān, hāl, stān and not
from O. N. hæim, bæinn, hæil, stæinn.
Mair, in spite of its e-vowel, is not from O. N.
mæir, for a following r prevented the development to
i, as a rule, although in Cumberland meear is found
beside mair. The word "steak" (O. N. stæik), which
occurs in Ellis's list, has had an irregular development and cannot be
considered here (see further Luik, 323). In the following works are found
a number of words of this class:
Westmoreland and Cumberland Dialects, by J.R. Smith. London. 1839.
A Glossary of Words and Phrases of Cumberland, by William Dickinson. London. 1859.
Folk Speech of Cumberland, by Alexander Craig Gibson. London. 1873.
A Glossary of Words used in Swaledale, Yorkshire, by John Harand. E.D.S. 1873.
Whitby Glossary, by F.K. Robinson. E.D.S. 1876.
18
These all aim at giving the phonetic value of the sounds. O. E.,
O. N. ā is represented by ea or eea,
indicating i-fracture. For
instance: heam, steean, neam, geat,
beeath, leath (O. N. laði),
heeal, brea (O. N. brā), breead
(O. E. brād, not O. N. bræi),
greeay, blea, etc. Those that have a, ai,
or ay, that is an e-vowel,
and must consequently be derived from the corresponding O. N.
words, are the following:
blake, adj. yellow, pale,
O. N. blæikr.
blaken, vb. to turn yellow,
N.N. blæikna.
clame, vb. to adhere,
O. N. klæima.
clam, adj. slimy, deriv.
claming, sb. adhesive material, deriv.
flay, vb. to frighten, O. N.
fleya.
flaytly, adv. timidly, deriv.
hain, vb. to save, protect,
O. N. hegna.
lake, laike, vb. to play, O. N.
læika, cp. O. E. lācan.
lakeing, sb. a toy, deriv.
lave, sb. the remainder, O. N.
læifr, cp. O. E. lāf.
rate, vb. to bleach, whiten, O. N.
rōyta. M. L. G. roten, is out of the
question, and *reeat would be the form corresponding to
M. L. G. raten.
slake, vb. to smear, daub, O. N.
slæikja. O. L. G. slikken does not correspond.
slake, sb. a kiss, deriv.,
cp. O. N. slæikr.
slape, adj. slippery, O. N.
slæipr, cp. O. E. slape.
slapen, vb. to make smooth,
O. N. slæipna,
but possibly deriv. from slape.
snape, vb. to restrain, O. N. snöypa.
In addition to these, blain, "to become white," is a Scand.
loan-word, but rather from Dan. blegne than Norse blæikna,
cp. blake above. Blained, adj. "half dry," said of linen hung
out to dry, is, of course, simply the pp. of blain, cp. Dan.
blegned. Skaif, "distant, wild, scattered abroad, or apt to be
dispersed" (is the definition given), corresponds exactly to O. N.
skæif in form, but not in meaning.
Skæif
meant "crooked." Sco. daive,
"to stun, stupefy," is here regularly spelled deeave
(deave in Swaledale).
It must, then, be derived from O. E. deafian, not O. N.
19döyfa, O. Ic. deyfa. Swaledale slaiching, "sneaking," is the same
as O. N. slæikja, "to lick"; a secondary meaning
of O. N. slæikja
is "to sneak"; keeal, "kail," could come from O. N. kál or Gael.
cál. It is probably from the latter. The word slaister, "to
dawdle, to waste one's time," is not clear. The sb. slaisterer, "a
slink, an untidy person," is also found. The ai indicates an original
diphthong. It is probably the same as Norse slöysa, sb. "an
untidy person," as vb. "to be untidy, to be careless." Ster
(slais + ster) would, then, be an Eng. suffix, or it may be the same
as that in Sco. camstary, cp. Germ. halsstarrig. The Norse word
slöysa is probably not the direct source of the Eng. dialect word.
Slaister, however, for slöysa, seems to be a recent word in Norse.
Skane, "to cut the shell fish out of the shell" (Wall, list B),
is to be
derived from O. N. skæina, rather than from
O. E. scænan. Slade,
"breadth of greensward in plowed land," cannot be from O. N.
slettr, "plain," sletta, "a plain." Neither form nor meaning
quite correspond. The Sw. slägd corresponds perfectly in form but
not in meaning. It is, however, probably from O. E. slæd. This
word is taken from Wall's list, not from the works named above.
In Gaelic and Irish, in the Western Isles and the Highlands, considerable
Norse elements are found as the result of Norse occupancy
that continued in the Isles, at least, for several hundred years.
A number of words that have come into Gaelic and Irish from Norse
are also found in Lowland Scotch. In some cases it seems that the
word has not come into Lowland Scotch direct from Norse, but by
way of Gaelic or Irish. Craigie has given a list of about 200 words
in Gaelic that seem to come from Norse. Out of these I will take
a few that have corresponding words in Scotch:
Gaelic or Irish.
|
Lowland Scotch.
|
Old Norse.
|
gardha
lobht
prine
stop
sgeap
sainseal
gaort
20
cnapp, cneap
maol
sgeir
scarbh
gead
scát
brod
masg
rannsaich
|
garth
loft
prin
stoup
skep
hansell
girt, girth
knap
mull
sker
scarth
ged, gedde
scait
brod
mask Dan.
ransack, runsick
|
garðr
loft
prjónn
staup
skeppa
handsal
giörð
knappr
múli
sker
scarfr
gedda
skata
broddr
maske
rannsaka
|
Garth and loft agree perfectly with the O. N. and are
not doubtful. With the Gael. gardh cp. O. N. garðr and
O. Sw. gardher. The Sco. garth has changed the original
voiced spirant to a voiceless one. In Gael. lobht f has become
v. Prin is rather doubtful. There is an O. E.
prēon from which the Gael. word may have come. The Sco.
word prin does not seem to come from either O. E.
prēon or O. N. prjónn, but from the Gael.
prine. There is a Northern dialectic prēon which
may come from O. E. prēon. There is also a pren
in Dan. dial. Stoup has the Norse diphthong which has been simplified
in Gael. stop. Skep is a little doubtful because of meaning.
The loanword sgeap in Gael. has the specialized meaning of "a beehive."
This meaning the Sco. word has very frequently, the Norse to my knowledge
never. It may be a case of borrowed meaning from Gael. Girth is from
the Norse. Girt is probably simply change of th to t,
which is also found elsewhere in Sco. Knap may be from either.
Mull in Sco. may be native English. The word occurs in L. G.
Sker is from O. N. Skarth is anomalous, showing change
of f to th. In the Gael. scarbh, f is changed
to v as in lobht. Ged is nearer the O. N.
Scait could be from either, as also brod. Sco. mask
is probably not at all a loanword, and may be from older mex by
metathesis of s; cp. O. E. mexfat and Sco. maskfat
cited by Skeat, Et. Dict. The Gael. masg is probably not a loanword
from the Scand., but from O. E., or perhaps from O. Sco. An
O. Nhb. mesk probably existed. Ransack agrees with the
Norse word. The spelling runsick found once (Wallace VII, 120),
probably does not represent the exact sound, and is, in any case, as
ransack to be derived from the O. N. and not through the Gael.
Faid, "a company of hunters," has already once been referred to.
21This cannot possibly come from the
O. N. væiðr, for while the spirant ð sometimes becomes
d, O. N. v regularly becomes w in Sco. (rarely
v). We should expect the form waith, and this is the form
we have in Wallace I, 326, in the sense "the spoil of the chase." There
is a Gael. fiadhoig, meaning "a huntsman." The first element
fiad seems to be the O. N. veiðr with regular change
of ð to d (or dh, cp. gardha), and v
or w to f which is considered a sign of Gael. influence in
Aberdeen Sco., cp. fat for what, fen for when,
etc., the development probably being wh > w > v
> f.
Faid
in Sco. is then probably from the Gaelic.
We have spoken in §§ 10, 13, 20 and 22, of a number of words
that are to be considered regular Sco. developments of O. E.
words. The following words have also generally been derived
from the Scand., but must be considered native, or from sources
other than Norse:
Blait, adj. backward,
must be traced to O. E.
blēat, rather than to O. N. blout. O. N.
ou, au is always ou or oi in Sco.
Breid, sb. breadth,
not Norse bræidde nor Dan.
bredde, but native Eng.
Cummer, sb. misery, wail,
seems uncertain. It corresponds
in form and usage exactly to Norse kummer, but mb >
mm is natural and occurs elsewhere in Sco., cp. slummer,
"slumber," which need not be derived from Norse slummer or any
L. G. word. The usage of the word is peculiarly Scand.
Dead, sb. death.
Not Dan.-Norse död, but English
"death."
Fald, vb. to fall.
Skeat says the d is due to Scand.
influence, but cp. boldin from bolna (older bolgna).
So d after l in fald may be genuine. Besides the
O. N. word is falla, later Dan. falde.
Ferde, ordinal of four, not Norse
fjerde. See § 19.
Flatlyngis, adv. flatly,
headlong, looks very much like Norse
flatlengs and corresponds perfectly in meaning. The Norse word is,
however, a late formation, apparently, and -lyngs is a very common
adverbial ending in Sco.
Hap, vb. to cover up, to wrap up,
cannot come from
O. Sw. hypia, as y could not become a.
Ledder, sb. leather.
Not from Dan. leder, for cp.
§ 19; besides the vowel in the Dan. word is long.
22Mister,
sb. and vb.
need, from O. Fr. mestier, not from O. N. miste,
which always means "to lose," as it does in the modern diall. The
O. Fr. mestier meant "office, trade," and sometimes "need."
The last is the meaning of the modern métier in the dialects of
Normandy. Both meanings exist in Northern English.
Ouke, sb. week.
In all probability from O. E.
wucu by loss of initial w before u. The Dan.
uge does not quite correspond. The O. N. vika even
less. The Danish uge simply shows similar dropping of w
(v) as the Sco. word.
Rigbane, sb. backbone.
Both elements are Eng. The compound
finds a parallel in Norse rygbæin.
Soom, vb. to swim. Not Dan.
sömme, but loss of
w before oo, cp. the two Norse forms svömma and
symma. Cp. soote, the last word in the first line of the
Prologue to Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Teem, vb. to empty.
It is not necessary to derive this
from Norse tömme, "to empty." There is an O. E.
tōm from which the Sco. adj. toom probably comes.
Toom is also a verb in Sco. Teem is simply this same word
by characteristic Sco. change of o to e. (See § 17.)
This also explains the length of the vowel.
Trak, vb. to pull, not necessarily
Norse trekka, cp. the L. G. trekken.
Wid, sb. wood.
Not O. N. viðr nor Dan.
ved. The vowel is against it in both cases. But just as above
toom becomes teem, so wood > wid, cp.
Sco. guid, "good," pit, "put," etc. (See § 17.)
Hence also the shortness of the vowel in wid.
Were, sb. spring, cp.
Latin ver. Var,
vaar in Scand. does not account for the e
in the Sco. word.
Yird, sb. earth.
Not from Dan. jord. See next word.
Yirth, sb. earth, an inorganic
y (see § 18). Not from O. N. jörð.
For d in yird see § 19.
I have adopted the following tests of form, meaning and
distribution in determining the Scand. source of loanwords:
1. The diphthong ou, ow corresponding
to O. N. ou, O. E. ea.
2. Ai, ay corresponding to
O. N. æi, O. E. ā as far as such words
can be determined from modern dialects according to § 20.
233. The spirant th
corresponding to O. N. ð, and O. E. d.
4. Consonantal assimilation of nk to
kk, mb to bb, mp to pp, ðl
to ll, zd and rd to dd, corresponding to
similar assimilation in Scand.
5. Other consonantal and inflexional forms
that are Scand., as opposed to O. Nhb. d for Scand. d,
O. E. ð excluded, see §§ 19 and 23.
6. A word that is used in a sense distinctively Scand.,
as opposed to Eng. or L. G., is to be regarded as a loanword.
7. The distribution of a word in South England diall.,
or in O. F., O. S. or M. L. G., indicates that the word
is not a Scand. loanword.
8. On the other hand, if a word occurs exclusively
in Scand. settlements in England and Scotland, it is to be regarded as due
to Scand. influence in Scotch in spite of L. G. parallels.
9. The presence of a word in O. E. excludes
Scand. influence, except in cases where the O. E. word has been shown
to be a loanword. See Steenstrup and Kluge.
The following dates it may be well to remember:
Barbour's "Bruce" finished about 1375.
Wyntoun's Chronicle written about 1420.
Henry the Minstrel's "Wallace" written about 1450.
Dunbar lived from 1460 to 1520.
Douglas lived from 1475 to 1520.
Sir David Lyndsay lived from 1490 to 1555.
Alexander Scott lived from 1547 to 1584.
"The Complaynt of Scotland" was written about 1549.
Alexander Montgomery lived from 1540 to 1610.
Allan Ramsay lived from 1686 to 1758.
Robert Burns lived from 1759 to 1796.
"The Bruce," Wyntoun's "Cronykale" and the "Wallace"
belong, then, to the early period of Scotch, which, for convenience,
has been called Old Scotch. The last half of the 15th Century is a
transition period. The language of Dunbar and Douglas is already
Middle Scotch. Middle Scotch of the 16th Century is further represented
by Lyndsay, Alexander Scott and Montgomery. "The
Com24playnt of Scotland"
is Central Scotch of the middle of the 16th
Century. Ramsay represents Early New Scotch. The language of
Burns is in all essentials present Scotch. From the Scottish War of
Independence down to the Union of the Crowns the literary standard
of Scotland was Central Scotch. After the Union there was
no longer a Scotch language of literature and Central Scotch became
a mere spoken dialect like the other dialects of Scotland. The
writings of Ramsay and Burns represent local dialects just as the
large number of Scotch dialect writers of the last and this century
have written in their own peculiar local vernacular. The great
majority of loanwords are taken from "The Bruce," "The Wallace,"
Douglas, Dunbar, Scott and Montgomery. "The Bruce"
has a large number of Scand. elements; it represents, however, literary
Scotch and not Aberdeen Scotch of 1375. "Johnnie Gibb,"
written in modern Aberdeen dialect, has not a very large Scand. element,
while "Mansie Wauch" (modern Edinburgh dialect) has a
far larger number. In "The Wallace" Scand. elements are quite
prominent. So in the writings of Douglas, Scott and Montgomery.
"The Complaynt of Scotland" has comparatively very few
loanwords from Scand., while on the other hand the French element
is more prominent than in the other works. Norse elements are
not prominent in Lyndsay. None of the Scotch writers has as
many Scand. words as Dunbar. We may say that they are nearly
as prominent in Dunbar's works as in the Ormulum, Midland English
of about 300 years before Dunbar's works were written.
The numbers given in the references are self-explanatory. They
are generally to page and line, in some cases to book and verse, as
in Bruce and Wyntoun. T.W.M. refers to Dunbar's "Twa
Mariit Wemen." F. to "The Flyting with Kennedy." F. after
Montgomery's name refers to "The Flyting." G.T. refers to
Dunbar's "Golden Targe," and C. and S. to Montgomery's
"Cherrie and the Slae." M.P. to the "Miscellaneous Poems"
and S. to the "Sonnets."
Only words that are specifically Scotch in form or usage have been
included. Very well known Scotch words, that occur in older Scotch
as well as the modern dialects, such as blether,
busk, ettle, kilt, etc.,
are given without references to texts where they have been found,
otherwise one or more references are given in each case. For the
sake of comparison and illustration Shetland and Cumberland forms
25are frequently given.
Wherever a W. Scand. source is accepted fora loanword
the O. N. form is given if it be different from O. Ic.
Examples from Danish dialects or Swedish dialects are given as Dan.
dial. or Sw. dial. Those from Norse dialects are cited as Norse
simply. Those that are specifically literary Norse are cited as
Dano-Norse.
LOANWORDS.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Agait,
adv. uniformly. R.R. 622. Sco. ae, one, + O. N.
gata literally "ae way," one way.
Agait, adv. astir, on the way.
See Wall.
Agrouf, adv. on the stomach,
grovelling. Ramsay, II, 339. O. N. á grúfu, id.
See grouf.
Airt (ę̆rt), vb. urge, incite,
force, guide, show. O. N. erta, to taunt, to tease,
erting, teasing. Norse erta, örta, id. Sw. dial.
erta, to incite some one to do a thing. Sw. reta shows
metathesis. M. E. ertin, to provoke.
Allgat, adv. always, by all means.
Bruce, XII, 36; L.L. 1996. O. N. allu gatu. O. Ic.
öllu gǫtu. See Kluge, P. G.2 I., 938.
Algait, algatis, adv. wholly.
Douglas, II, 15, 32; II, 129, 31. See Kluge,
P. G.2 I., 938.
Althing, as a sb. everything.
Gau, 8, 30, corresponding to Dan. alting. "Over al thing," Dan.
over alting. Not to be taken as a regular Sco. word, however.
Gau has a number of other expressions which correspond closely to those
of the Dan. original of Kristjern Pedersen, of which Gau's work is a
translation.
Anger, sb. grief, misery. Bruce,
I, 235. Sco. Pro. 29. O. N. angr, grief, sorrow. See
Bradley's Stratmann, and Kluge and Lutz. The root ang is general
Gmc., cp. O. E. angmod, "vexed in mind." M. L. G.
anxt, Germ. angst, Dan. anger. The form of the word
in Eng., however, is Scand.
Angryly, adv. painfully. Wyntoun,
VI, 7, 30. Deriv., cp. Cu. angry, painful, O. N.
angrligr, M. E. angerliche. The O. Dan. vb.
angre, meant "to pain," e.g., thet angar mek, at thu skal
omod thorn stride (Kalkar).
26Apert,
adj. bold. Bruce, XX, 14. apertly, boldly, XIV, 77.
Evidently from O. N. apr, sharp, cp. en
aprasta
hrið, "sharp fighting," cited in Cl. and V. Cl. and V. compares
N. Ic. napr, "snappish," cp. furthermore apirsmert,
adj. (Douglas, II, 37, 18), meaning "crabbed," the second element of
which is probably Eng. Apr in O. N. as applied to persons
means "harsh, severe" (Haldorson).
Assil-tooth, sb. molar tooth.
Douglas, I, 2, 12. See Wall.
At, conj. that. O. N.
at, Norse, Dan. at, to be regarded as a Scand. word.
Might in some places be due to Celtic influence, but its early presence,
and general distribution in Scand. settlements in England, Scotland,
Shetland, etc., indicates that it is Scand.
Aweband, sb. "a band used for
tying cattle to the stake." Jamieson, Lothian. O. N.
há-band, "vinculum nervos poplitis adstringens" (Haldorson).
Norse habbenda, "to tie cattle with a rope between the knees to
keep them from running away." Cp. O. Sw. haband, Sw. dial.
haband, "a rope that unites the oar with the oarlock."
Awkwart, prep. athwart, across.
Wallace, III, 175; II, 109. Same as the Eng. adj. "awkward" which was
originally an adv. Etymologically it is the O. N. afugr
(O. Ic. öfugr) + Eng. ward (Skeat), cp. the Norse vb.
afvige, to turn off. I have not found the prepositional use of
the word in Eng. Cp. "toward."
Awsome, adj. terrible, deriv.
from awe (O. N. ági). The ending some is Eng.
O. N. ágasamr, Norse aggsam, means "turbulent,
restless."
Aynd (ēnd), sb. O. N.
andi, breath, O. Sw. ande, Norse ande, Dan.
aande.
Aynding, sb. breathing, deriv.
See aynd.
Ayndless, adj. breathless.
Bruce, X, 609. See aynd.
Bait, vb. to incite. Dunbar,
21127. O. N. bæita, O. Ic. beita. See B-S.
Baith, bath (bēth), pron. both.
M. E. bōþe, bāþe, Cu. beatth, Eng.
both, O. N. bāðir, O. Dan.
bāðe. Skeat.
Baittenin, pr. p. thriving.
Jamieson. O. N. batna, Eng. batten. See Skeat,
and Kluge and Lutz.
Baittle (bētl), sb. a pasture,
a lea which has thick sward of grass. Jamieson, Dumfries. O. N.
bæita, "to feed," bæiti, pasturage. Cp. Norse
fjellbæite, a mountain pasture.
27Ban,
vb. to swear, curse. Dunbar, 13, 47; Rolland, II, 680. O. N.
banna, to swear, to curse, banna, a curse, Norse
banna, to swear, banning, swearing, W. Sw. dial.
bænn id., Dan. bande, to swear, to wish one bad luck,
O. S. banna id. M. Du. bannen means to
excommunicate. This is the L. G. meaning. The Sco. usage is
distinctly Scand. It is also a Northern word in Eng. diall. Cp.
Shetland to ban, to swear.
Bang, vb. to beat. Sat. P. 39,
150. O. N. banga, O. Sw. banka, Norse,
banke, to beat, to strike. Cp. Shetland bonga, in
"open de door dat's a bonga," somebody is knocking, literally
"it knocks" Norse det banka. Bang is very frequently
used in the sense of rushing off, cp. Dalrymple's translation of
Leslie, I, 324, 7.
Bangster, sb. a wrangler.
Sat. P. 44, 257. Evidently Norse bang + Eng. suffix ster.
See bang vb. Cp. camstarrie, where the second syllable
corresponds to that in Germ. halsstarrig.
Bark, vb. to tan, to harden.
Dunbar F. 202 and 239. Ramsay, I, 164, "barkit lether," tanned leather.
O. N. barka, to tan, Norse barka, to tan, to harden,
M. E. barkin. General Scand. both sb. and vb. In the sense
"to tan" especially W. Scand., cp. Sw. barka, to take the
bark off. O. Sw. barka, however, has the meaning "to tan."
Barknit, adj. clotted, hardened.
Douglas, II, 84, 15. pp. of vb. barken, to tan. See above.
Bask, adj. dry, withering
(of wind). Jamieson, Dumfries. Dan. barsk, hard, cold,
en barsk Vinter, a cold winter. Cp. Sco. "a bask daw," a windy
day. M. L. G. barsch and basch do not agree in
meaning with the Sco. word; besides the sk is Scand. For loss
of r before sk cp. hask from harsk.
Bauch, bawch, baugh, adj. awkward,
stiff, jaded, disconsolate, timid. Sat. P. 12, 58; Dunbar Twa.
M.W. 143; Rolland, IV, 355; Johnnie Gibb, 127, 2. O. N.
bagr, awkward, clownish, inexperienced, unskilful. Bauchly,
poorly, in Ramsay, II, 397.
Bayt, vb. to feed, graze. Bruce,
XIII, 589, 591; Lyndsay, 451, 1984. O. N. bæit, to feed, to
graze, causative from bita, literally means to make to bitE.
Norse bita, to graze, Sw. beta, M. E. beyten.
In many diall. in Norway the word means "to urge, to force."
Cp. bait.
28Beck,
sb. a rivulet, a brook. Jamieson. O. N. bekkr,
O. Sw. bäkker, Norse bekk, O. Dan. bæk.
Sw. bäck, a rivulet. In place-names a test of Scand. settlements.
Beet, vb. to incite, inflame.
Burns, 4, 8. Same as bait, incite, q.v. Cp. Cu. "to beet t'yubm,
to supply sticks, etc. to the oven while heating" (Dickinson).
Big, begg, sb. barley. Fergusson,
II, 102; Jamieson, Dumfries. O. N. bygg, Dan. byg.
See Wall. Cp. Shetland big.
Begrave, vb. to bury. Douglas,
II, 41, 25; IV, 25, 22; IV, 17, 8. Dan. begrave, Norse
begrava, O. Sw. begrava, begrafwa, to bury.
Possibly not a loanword.
Bein, bene, bein, adj. liberal,
open-handed, also comfortable, pleasant. Douglas, III, 260, 23;
Fergusson, 108; Sat. P. 12, 43. Beine, hearty, in Philotus,
II, is probably the same word. O. N. bæinn.
Beir, vb. to roar. Douglas,
II, 187, 1. See bir, sb.
Big, vb. to build, dwell, inhabit.
Dunbar T.M.W. 338; Dalr., I, 26, 19; Sco. pro. 5. O. N.
byggia. See Wall. Sco. "to big wi' us," to live with us, cp.
Norse ny-byddja, to colonize.
Bigging, bygine, sb. a building.
O. N. bygging, a building, habitation. Scand. diall. all
have the form bygning, so O. Sw. bygning. The word
may be an independent Sco. formation just as erding, "burial,"
from erde, "to bury"; layking, "a tournament," from
layke, "to sport"; casting, "a cast-off garment," from
cast; flytting, "movable goods," from flyt,
"to move"; hailsing, "a salute," from hailse; and Eng.
dwelling, "a house," from vb. dwell. Cp. however
Shetland bogin.
Bing, sb. a heap, a pile.
Douglass, II, 216, 8. O. N. bingr, a heap, O. Sw.
binge. Norse bing more frequently a heap or quantity
of grain in an enclosed space. O. Dan. byng, bing.
Bir, birr, beir, sb. clamor,
noise, also rush. S. S. 38; Lyndsay, 538, 4280. O. N.
byrr, a fair wind. O. Sw. byr. Cp. Cu. bur
and Shetland "a pirr o' wind," a gust. Also pronounced bur,
bor.
Birring, pr. p. flapping
(of wings). Mansie Wauch, 159, 33. See bir.
Bla, blae (blē), adj. blue,
livid. Douglas, III, 130, 30; Irving, 468. O. N. blá, blue,
Norse blaa, blau, Sw. blå, Dan. blaa. Not from
O. E. blēo.
29Blabber,
vb. to chatter, speak nonsense. Dunbar F., 112. O. N.
blabbra, lisp, speak indistinctly, Dan. blabbre id., Dan.
dial. blabre, to talk of others more than is proper. M. E.
blaber, cp. Cu. blab, to tell a secret. American dial.
blab, to inform on one, to tattle. There is a Gael.
blabaran, sb. a stutterer, which is undoubtedly borrowed from
the O. N. The meaning indicates that.
Blaik, vb. to cleanse, to polish.
Johnnie Gibb, 9, 6. O. N. blæikja, to bleach, O. Sw.
blekia, Sw. dial. bleika. All these are causative verbs
like the Sco. The inchoative corresponding to them is blæikna in
O. N., N.N., blekna in O. Sw., blegne in Dan.
See blayknit. Cp. Shetland bleg, sb. a white spot.
Blayknit, pp. bleached. Douglas,
III, 78, 15. O. N. blæikna, to become pale, O. Sw.
blekna, Norse blæikna id. O. N. blæikr, pale.
Cp. Cu. blake, pale, and bleakken with i-fracture.
O. E. blāc, blæcan.
Bleck, vb. put to shame. Johnnie
Gibb, 59, 34, 256, 13. O. N. blekkja, to impose upon,
blekkiliga, delusively, blekking, delusion, fraud;
a little doubtful.
Blether, bledder, vb. to chatter,
prate. O. N. blaðra, to talk indistinctly, blaðr,
sb. nonsense. Norse bladra, to stammer, to prate, Sw. dial.
bladdra, Dan. dial. bladre, to bleet. Cp. Norse
bladdra, to act foolishly.
Blether, sb. nonsense. Burns
32, 2, 4 and 4, 2, 4. O. N. blaðr, nonsense. Probably the
Sco. word used substantively.
Blome, sb. blossom. Bruce, V, 10;
Dunbar, I, 12. Same as Eng. bloom from O. N.
blómi.
Blome, vb. to flourish,
successfully resist. Douglas, IV, 58, 25. "No wound nor wapyn mycht
hym anis effeir, forgane the speris so butuus blomyt he." Small
translates "show himself boastfully." The word blómi in
O. N. used metaphorically means "prosperity, success."
Blout, blowt, adj. bare, naked,
also forsaken. Douglas, III, 76, 11; IV, 76, 6. O. N. blautr,
Norse blaut, see Cl. and V. The corresponding vowel in O. E.
is ea: blēat. The O. N. as well as the N.N. word
means "soft." The O. E. word means "wretched." In Sco. blout
has coincided in meaning with blait. The Dan. word blot is,
on account of its form, out of the question.
30Bodin,
adj. ready, provided. Douglas, III, 22, 24; Dunbar, 118, 36;
Wyntoun, VII, 9, 213. From boðinn, boðja (E.D.D.).
Bolax, sb. hatchet. Jamieson.
O. N. bolöx, a poleaxe, Norse bolöks, O. Sw.
bolöxe, bolyxe, O. Dan. bulöx, Dano-Norse
bulaks. Ormulum bulaxe (see further Brate).
Bole, sb. the trunk of a tree.
Isaiah, 44, 19. O. N. bolr, the trunk of a tree, Norse
bol, bul, O. Sw. bol, bul, Sw. dial.
bol id.
Boldin, vb. to swell. Douglas,
II, 52; I, II, 130, 25. Norse bolna, older bolgna, Dan.
bolne, M. E. bollen (also bolnin). The Sco.
word has developed an excrescent d after l. In Lindsay,
127, 3885, boildin, adj. pp. swollen.
Bolle, sb. a measure. Bruce,
III, 221; Wyntoun, VII, 10, 519, 521, 523. O. N. bolli,
a vessel, blotbolli, a measure, Sw. bulle. Rather than
from O. E. bolla (Eng. bowl).
Boun, adj. bent upon, seems to
have almost the idea of "compelled to." Gol. and Gaw. 813. O. N.
búinn. See Wall under bound, and Cl. and V. under
bua B. II.
Boune, vb. to prepare, to prepare
to go, to go. Houlate, I, 23; Poet. R. 107, I; Gol. and Gaw. 59, 13, 40.
See bown.
Bowdyn, pp. adj. swollen. Dunbar
T.M.W. 41, 345; Montg. F. 529. See boldin.
Bowk, sb. trunk of the body, body.
Dunbar, 248, 25; Rolland, II, 343. O. N. búkr, the trunk,
the body, Norse būk, Dan. bug, O. Sw. buker.
Specific Scand. usage. O. E. būc, like O. F.
buk and Germ. bauch, meant "belly."
Bow, sb. a fold for cows. Douglas,
III, 11, 4. O. N. ból, a place where cows are penned, also
den, lair or lying-place of beasts. Norse bol, Shetland bol,
bøl, a fold for cattle. In Psalms XVII, 12, bole occurs in
the sense of "a lion's den."
Bown, adj. ready, prepared. L.L.
1036. O. N. búinn. Not Eng., but a loanword from O. N.,
and as Kluge P. G.2 I, 939, has pointed out shows
also Norse influence in the Midland dial.
Bowne, vb. to swell. Irving, 230.
O. N. bolgna to swell, Norse bolna, Dan. bolne.
Shows characteristic Sco. change of l to w. In
boudin, Irving, 467, an excrescent d has developed before
the l became u (w). Wallace, VI, 756, bolnyt,
swelled. So in Wyntoun, IX, 17, 5. Boldnit with excrescent
d occurs in Douglas, II, 84, 16.
31Bra, brae,
bray (brē), a slope, declivity. O. N. brá, see
Bradley's Stratmann. Cp. Jöstedalsbrä in Western Norway.
Braid (brēd), sb. a sudden
movement, an assault (Small). Douglas, III, 251, 2. O. N.
bragð, a sudden motion, a quick movement, tricks or sleights in
wrestling. O. Sw. braghþ, a sudden motion. Norse, Sw.
bragd, manner of execution, exploit. The fundamental idea in the
Sco. and the O. Nh. word is sudden movement. The O. E.
brægd meant deceit, fraud.
Braith, adj. hasty, violent.
Wallace, X, 242. O. N. bráðr, sudden, hasty, O. Dan.
braadh, Norse braad. Cp. braahast (E. Norse), great
hurry, O. Sw. brader, brodher, hasty, violent, Orm.
bra, angry. Brothfall (Orm), a fit, broth (Eng.
dial.), in Skeat's list. Braithful, violent, sharp.
Braithly, adv. violently, suddenly.
O. N. bráðliga, hastily. Cp. E. Norse braaleg
adj., and M. Dan. bradelig. O. N. bráðorðr means
"hasty of speech."
Brokit, Brukit, adj. streaked,
spotted. Burns, 569. O. Sw. brokoter, Norse brokut,
Dan. broget, variegated, striped. Cp. dannebrog, the
Danish flag. Same as Cu. breukt. Probably the same with Shetland
brogi, in "a brogi sky," cloudy. May possibly be Eng. Exists in
M. L. G.
Brod, sb. a sharp point. Wyntoun,
VI, 14, 70. O. N. broddr, Norse, Sw. brodd, Orm.
brodd. (See Brate.)
Brod, vb. to prick, spur on,
incite. C.S. 123; Douglas, III, 3, 20; Dunbar T.M.W. 330.
O. N. brodda, to prick, to urge. Dan. brodde means
"to equip with points," a vb. later developed out of the sb.
Bront, sb. force, rush, shock.
Douglas, I, 90, 20; II, 161, 28. "At the first bront we swept by."
See Skeat brunt.
Bud, sb. a bribe, an offer.
Lyndsay, 436, 1616; Dunbar T.M.W. 142. O. N. bod,
an offer, Norse bod, Sw. bud, Dan. dial. bud, an
offer at an auction. Cp. O. E. friðbote, a peace-offering,
O. N. frið + boð.
Bught, sb. a corner or stall
where cows are milked. Ramsay, II, 539. O. N. bugt, a bowing,
a bight, Norse bugt, Dan. bugt.
Buller, vb. to trickle, bubble.
Winyet, II, 62. O. N. buldra, Norse bulrdra. See
E.D.D. cp. Sw. bullra, to make an indistinct noise. O. Fr.
bulder, L. G. bullern (see Koolman),
Germ. poltern all have more the idea of loud noise, clamor,
as the 32Norse word sometimes has.
Lyndsay, 226, 95, uses the word in this sense. It may be genuine Eng.
Busk, vb. to prepare, dress, adorn,
ornament. O. N. búask from búa sik, to make ready, to
ornament. See Wall. Exhibits W. Scand. reflexive ending sk.
The Gael. busgainnich, to dress, to adorn, is a loanword from
O. N.
Buskie, adj. fond of dress,
Jamieson, busk sb. dress, decoration. See busk vb.
Buith (ū), sb. booth, shop.
Winyet, 1, 23, 2. O. N. búð, shop, O. Dan. both,
bodh. O. Sw. boð, Norse bud, Sw. bod,
Dan. dial. bod. M. E. bōþe, cp. M. L. G.
bode.
Byng, vb. to heap up. Douglas,
III, 144, 5. See bing sb.
Byrd, vb. impers., it behoved.
Bruce, VI, 316. O. N. byrja, to behove, beseem, pret.
burði, Norse byrja id., pret. burde, O. Dan.
böræ
, Sw. böra.
Bysning, adj. strange, monstrous,
terrible, Douglas, I, 29, 7; I, 37, 5; II, 70, 17. M. E.
biseninge, ill-boding, monstrous, from O. N. býsna,
to portend, Norse bisna, to marvel over.
Bysning, sb. a strange person,
an unusually unfortunate person. Douglas, I, 2544; I, 339. O. N.
býsna, to portend, býsn, a strange and portentous thing.
Norse bysn, a prodigy, bysning, curiosity. See the adj.
Cp. Shetland sóni-bosni, O. N. sjonar-býsn, a marvel.
Cadye,
adj. wanton. Lyndsay,
LXXXVII, 2567. Also written cady, caidgy, caigie;
sometimes means "sportive, cheerful." Dan. kaad, merry, lusty,
lustful. So Sw. kåt, O. N. katr, merry, cheerful,
Norse kaat. Cp. Philotus 5, "the carle caiges," where the same
word is used as a vb. to wanton, be wanton.
Caller, adj. cool. Fergusson, 73.
Very common in modern Sco. diall. O. N. kaldr, Norse
kall, cold. Seems to be a case of the Norse inflexional r
not disappearing in Sco.
Cangler, a wrangler. Ramsay, II, 482.
Norse kengla, kæingla, kjæingla, to quarrel.
A Sco. vb. cangle, to quarrel, also exists. Cp. O. N.
kangin-yrði, jeering words, Yorkshire caingy, cross,
ill-tempered.
Cappit, vb. pret. strove. Douglas,
II, 154, 21. O. N. kapp, contest, zeal, deila kappi
við, strive with. Norse kapp id. kappa, reflexive,
to race. Dan. kamp, O. E. camp, cempam.
The Sco. word exhibits W. Scand. assimilation of mp to
pp, the 33form kapp,
however, also existed in O. Sw. and exists in N.Dan. In Cu. a
capper is one who excels. This is probably the same word.
See, however, E.D.
Careing (kēr), pr. p. driving,
from care, caire, to drive. Douglas, III, 166, 10;
Wallace, IX, 1240. O. N. köyra, O. Ic. keyra,
Norse køyra, to drive, ride, O. Ic. keyrsla,
a driving, Norse kjørsel, id. Cp. Shetland care, id.
Monophthongation in O. Sw. köra, Dan. köre.
Carl, sb. a man, an old man, very
frequently with an idea of disrespect. C.S., 144. O. N. karl,
Norse kar, a man, fellow, but kall, an old man, with
assimilation of rl to ll. W. Norse kadl
exhibits the change of ll to dl. In Dan. and in Sw. dial
karl. Cu. carl means a coarse fellow. Dunbar has the word
wifcarl, man.
Carlage, adj. oldish, decrepit.
Irving, 172. O. N. karl + leikr.
Carling, karling, carline, sb. an
old woman, a slatternly woman. O. N. kerling, an old woman,
karlinna, a woman. O. Dan. kærlingh, O. Sw.
kärling, Norse kjæring, Dan. kiærling (pronounced
kælling), id. Dan. dial. kerling. Cp. Gael.
cailliach. Does not seem to exist in Eng. diall. south of the border.
Carp, karp, vb. to talk, converse.
Wyntoun, VI, 18, 313. O. N. karpa. See Skeat Et.D.
Castings, sb. pl. cast off clothes.
Dunbar's Complaynt, 43. Deriv. from cast. O. N. kasta.
Chaft, sb. the jaw, also used
vulgarly for the mouth. O. N. kjaptr, the jaw. Norse
kjæft, vulgar name for the mouth. O. Sw. kiäpter,
M. Sw. käft, Dan. kjæft, M. E. chaft.
Chaft-blade, chaff-blade, sb.
jaw. Mansie Wauch, 41, 20; 76, 23; 147, 28. Cp. Norse kjæfte-blad,
id. See chaft.
Chowk, sb. jawbone. Dalr., VIII,
112, 14; Isaiah, L, 6. O. N. kjálki, the jawbone, Norse
kjāke.
Chyngiel, sb. gravel. Douglas,
III, 302, 30. Norse singl, see Skeat, and Wall.
Cled, pp. clad, clothed. Wallace,
I, 382. O. N. klæddr, dressed, from klæða. O. E.
clæðan, from which N. Eng. clothe, was borrowed from the
Scand. in late O. E. See Kluge P. G.2 I., 932
Clag, sb. a stain, a flaw. Dalr.,
VIII, 97, 17. The vowel in O. N. kleggi does not correspond.
It is rather Dan. klag, see claggit.
34Claggit,
adj. clagged, literally adhering, sticking, vb. clag, to
stick. Lindsay, LXXXVII, 2667. Dan. klæg, mud, sticky clay, as
adj. sticky, cp. Cu. claggy, adhesive, clog, to stick to,
O. E. clæg, from which N. Eng. clay. Possibly from an
unpalatalized O. Nhb. clæg.
Cleading, sb. dress, clothing,
A.P.B. 110 cp. Norse klædning, Sco. formation, same as clothing
in Eng. The Sco. vb. is cleed.
Cleckin, sb. brood of chickens.
Burns, 99, 4. Cp. O. N. klekking, chicken, but probably Sco.
formation from cleck, to hatch, q.v.
Cleg, sb. the gadfly, horsefly.
Burns, 88, I. O. N. kleggi, horsefly, Dan. kleg.
See Wall.
Clek, vb. to hatch. Dunbar, 105;
Douglas, II, 198, 3. O. N. klekja, O. Sw.
kläkkia, Norse klökkja, klöttja, Dan.
klække, Sw. kläcka, id.
Cloff, sb. fork, fissure.
Montg. F., 60. O. N. klof, bifurcation, O. Dan.
klov, a rift in a tree, O. Sw. klovi, id. Norse
klov, a cleft opening. Cp. Sco. long-cloved and Ic.
klof-langr.
Clour, vb. to beat, strike;
always used with reference to personal encounters. O. N.
klóra, to scratch, Norse klōra id., klōr
sb. used with reference to the scratch one gets as the result of a blow.
In Sco. clour may also mean the blow itself.
Clour, clowre, sb. a scratch or
swelling after a blow. Fergusson, 120; Philotus, 153; Douglas, I, 6, 4.
O. N. klór, a scratching. Norse klōr. Probably
Sco. formation.
Clubbit, adj. clubfooted, clumsy.
Montg. S., XXVIII; M.P., 13, 30. O. N. klubba and
klumba, Norse klubba, Dan., Norse klump. Cp. Eng.
clump. Söderwall gives klubba, klobba, probably M. Sw.
Cp. N.Dan. klubbe. Exhibits assimilation of mb to bb
which is general in W. Scand. Also appears to some extent later in
E.Scand. Eng. club is Scand. See Skeat.
Clunk, vb. to emit a hollow and
uninterrupted sound. Jamieson, Ayr. O. N. klunka, Norse
klunka, to emit a gurgling sound. O. Sw. klunka,
Eng. clink shows umlaut.
Clyfft, sb. a cleft, a fissure.
Wallace, VII, 859. Norse klyft, kluft, Ic. kluft,
Sw. klyfta, Dan. kloft. See also Skeat under cleft,
and B.S. cluft. The Sco. word like the M. E. exhibits the
umlaut which has taken place in some places in Norway and Sweden.
35Cog, kog, coggie, sb.
a keg, a wooden vessel of any kind. Ferguson, 13; Burns, 195, 51, 2;
195, 50, 6. O. N. kaggi, Norse kagge, Dan. Sw.
kagge, a cask, a barrel. Skeat cites the form cag for Eng.
diall. The Sco. word preserves more closely the Norse sound, which is
not o, but a. On L. G. cognates see Skeat Et.D.
Costlyk, adj. costly, magnificent.
Wyntoun, VIII, 28, 76; IX, 18, 66, costlike. O. N. kostligr,
costly, choice, desirable. O. Sw. kosteliker, O. Dan.
kostælic, N. Dan. kostelig, Norse kosteleg, costly,
magnificent. Deriv. costlykly. Wyntoun, VII, 5, 96.
Cour, vb. to bow, to croutch.
O. N. kúra, O. Dan. kuræ, O. Sw. kura,
Norse kura, kurra, bend down, become quiet, go to rest.
Norse kurr, adj. silent, kurrende still, perfectly quiet,
cowered to silence. The fundamental idea in the O. N. word was
probably that of "lying quiet." Cp. Shetland to cur, to sit down.
Isaiah, LVIII, 5: "His head till cower like a seggan flouir."
Cow, vb. to overcome, surpass,
"beat." O. N. kúga, to compel to something, to tyrannize over.
Dan kue, underkue, suppress, oppress, Norse kua,
press down, also put into subjection. The more general meaning in the
modern diall. is "to beat." "To cow a'," in Barrie, to beat everything;
cow'd, Fergusson 117, terrified.
Craik, sb. crow. Burns, 226, 119, 3,
and 121, 1. O. N. kráka, Norse kraake, krauka,
Dan. krage, Shetland kraga, crow. See also Wall.
Crave, vb. to demand payment of a
debt, to dun. A regular Sco. use of the word. O. E. crafian
is a loanword from Scand. See Kluge P. G.2 I, 933.
Cp. Norse kreva, to dun.
Crove, sb. hut, cottage. Ramsay,
I, 158. O. N. kró, a hut, a little cottage (Haldorson),
Norse, kro, specialized to "wine or ale house." So in Dan.
Cunnand, adj. knowing, skilful,
dexterous. Wyntoun, VII, 3, 28; connand, V, 12, 1243; Douglas,
II, 18, 22. O. N. kunnandi, knowing, learned, Norse
kunnande, skilled. Deriv. cunnandly, conandly
(Wallace, I, 248).
Cunnandness, sb. skill, knowledge,
wisdom. Wyntoun, V, 12, 280; VII, 8, 667. Sb. formation from cunnand.
36Daggit,
adj. pp. soaked. Montg. S., 68, 11. O. N. döggva, to
bedew, döggottr, covered with dew, Norse dogga, id.,
Sw. dagg, thin, drizzling rain, O. Sw. dag, dew,
Shetland dag, dew, "he's dagen," it is misting. Cp. Cu.
daggy, misty.
Dapill, adj. gray. Douglas,
II, 257, 19; Scott 72, 126, "till hair and berd grow dapill."
O. N. depill. See Skeat.
Dapplet, adj. spotted, flecked.
Burns, VII, 11. See dapple in Skeat Et.D.
Dash, vb. to strike. Burns, 210,
872, 8, 7. O. N. daska, to strike, sb. dask,
a strike, Norse daska, Dan., Sw. daska, M. E.
daschen. See Bradley's Stratmann.
De, dee, vb. to die, M. E.
deyen. Undoubtedly a Scand. loan-word. Luik (91-93), agreeing
with Napier, thinks the word is native from primitive Gmc.
*daujan. I think, however, with Kluge, that if the word had
existed in O. E. it would have appeared earlier. See Kluge
P. G.2 I, 933. O. N. döyja, Norse
döi, O. Dan. döia, Dan, dö. On M. E.
deyen see Brate.
Degraithit, pp. deprived of.
Lyndsay, 523, 3935. Formed from the sb. graith, possessions,
hence degraith, to dispossess. Cp. the Eng. parallel. See
graith.
Dey, dee, sb. maid, woman. A.P.B.,
151; Ramsay 399. O. N. dæigja, a dairy maid, Norse
deigja, servant, budeie, dairy maid, O. Sw.
deghia, deijha, maid, girl, sweetheart, O. Dan.
deije, mistress, deijepige, servant. The Sco. word has
nearly always the general sense of "woman."
Ding, vb. to drive, strike, beat,
overcome. O. N. dengja, to hammer, Norse dengja,
denge, to whip, beat, O. Sw. dängia id., Sw.
dänge, O. Dan. dænge, M. E. dingen.
A very common word in Sco., used quite generally as Eng. "beat," in
the sense of "surpassing." "To ding a'" = to beat everything. Cp.
"to cow a'."
Dirdum, sb. tumult, uproar.
Douglas, I, 117, 9. O. N. dýra-dómr, "doordoom, an
ancient tribunal held at the door of the house of the suspected person,
which often was followed by uproar and bloodshed" (Small). The word
appears in Gael. as durdan.
Doif, adj. deaf, dull. Irving,
214. See douff. For similar parallel forms cp. gowk and
goilk; nowt and nolt; howk and holk;
lowp and loip; bowdyn and boildin, etc.
Donk, adj. damp, moist. Douglas,
II, 196, 32; Dunbar, G.T., 97. Cu. donky. See Skeat under
dank. Cp. donk sb.
37Donk,
sb. a moist place. Rolland, I, 2. Sw. dial. dank, a moist
marshy place, small valley. O. N. dökk, a pool, Norse
dok, a valley, Shetland dek. Exhibits E. Scand.
non-assimilation of nk to kk.
Donk, vb. to moisten. Dunbar,
T.M.W., 10, 512. M. E. donken, to moisten.
See donk, adj.
Donnart, adj. stupid, stupefied.
Mansie Wauch, 96, 29. Norse daana, Sw. dåna, to faint.
For the r cp. dumbfoundered, M.W., p. 210, 25.
An excrescent r appears in a number of words, so in dynnart,
a variant of the word above, Dunbar, T.M.W. 10. Cp.
daunert, in stupor, Johnnie Gibb, 56, 44, and dauner,
to wander aimlessly, Psalms CVII, 40.
Doock, duck. sb. a kind of coarse
cloth. Jamieson. Probably in this case, as the form of the word
indicates, from O. N. dúkr, O. Sw. dūker,
cloth. Cp. Norse dūk, Dan. dug, Sw. dial. duk.
Skeat derives the Eng. duck from Du. dock, but the Sco.
word agrees more closely with the Norse.
Dosen, adj. stupefied. Burns 220,
107, 2. Cp. Cu. dozent, stupefied, and Mansie Wauch, 207, 24,
dozing, whirling, sprawling. The Norse work dusen has the
same meaning as dosen above. The form dosynt, pp. dazed,
stunned (Burns), is to be explained from a Sco. vb. dosen
(not necessarily dosnen in Scotland), corresponding to M. E.
dasin, O. N. dasa. See Skeat under doze.
Dowff, douf, dolf, adj. deaf,
dull, melancholy, miserable. Douglas, II, 63, 11; Burns, 44, 4.
O. N. daufr, deaf, Norse dauv, drowsy, dull,
dauva, make drowsy. See dowie.
Dowie, dowy, adj. melancholy,
dismal. O. N. doufr, dead, drowsy. Norse dauv,
dau, id. Cp. Sco. doolie and Ir. doiligh,
mournful, O. N. daufligr, dismal.
Dowless, adj. careless,
worthless. Isaiah, 32, 11. O. N. duglauss, Norse
duglaus, good for nothing, said of a person who has lost all
courage or strength, as opposed to duglegr, capable. Norse
dugløysa, weakness, inability. Cp. Dan. due, to be able.
Germ. taugen.
Draik, vb. to drown, drench.
Lyndsay, 247, 714; draikit, Isaiah, I, 22. Apparently from
O. N. drekkja, to drown, to swamp. The vowel is difficult to
explain. The Cu. form drakt, drenched, wet, indicates a verb,
drak. The change in vowel 38would
then be similar to that in dwall from O. N. dvelja,
Eng. dwell. Uncertain.
Dram, sb. a drink. Fergusson, 40;
Mansie Wauch, 9, 9; 90, 2. Norse dram, a drink, always used with
reference to a strong drink, so in Sco. Dan. dram, as much of a
strong drink as is taken at one time (Molbeck). O. Sw. dramb,
drinking in general, carousing. This usage of dram is
distinctively Scand. and Sco. Cp. Eng. dram, Sco. vb.
dram, to furnish with drinks.
Drawkit, adj. drenched. Dunbar 142,
102; Douglas, I, 56, 12; III, 303, 8. See draik. The vowel is
difficult to explain. Absence of n before the k proves
that it is either a Scand. loanword direct, or a Sco. formation from
one. There is no Scand. word from which drawkit could come.
It may be a Sco. formation from draik. For change of ai
to aw cp. agent and awgent; various and
vawrious, in Aberdeen dial. The M. Dan. drockne,
N. Norse drokna, would hardly account for aw in
drawkit.
Drook, to drench, to drown. Isaiah,
XVI, 9; LV, 10; Psalms, VI, 6. Cannot come from O. N.
drekkja. Probably from O. N. drukna, to drown, Norse
drukna, O. Dan. dronkne, by lengthening of the vowel.
Cp. Cu. drookt, severely wet. The following infinitive forms also
occur, draik, drowk, drawk.
Droukit, adj. drenched. Fergusson,
40. See drook.
Drucken, druken, adj. drunken,
addicted to drink. O. N., Norse drukken, pp. of
drikka, to drink. Early E. Scand. has the unassimilated form.
Cp. O. Dan. dronkne, drone. Later Dan. drougne,
drocken. Early Sw. drokken.
Duddy, adj. ragged. Fergusson, 146;
Burns, 68, 48. See duds. Cp. Cu. duddy fuddiel, a ragged
fellow.
Duds, sb. pl. rags, clothes,
O. N. dudi, "vestes plumatae" (Haldorson), duda
(duða), to wrap up heavily, to swaddle. Gael. dud, rag,
is a loan-word from O. N. It is possible that the word may have
come into Lowland Sco. by way of Gael.
Egg, vb. to urge on, to incite.
O. N. eggja, goad, incite, Norse egga, Dan.
egge, id. The word is general Gmc., but this specific sense is
Scand. Cp. O. Fr. eggia, to quarrel, to fight.
M. L. G. eggen, to cut, to sharpen a sword.
Egging, sb. excitement, urging.
Bruce, IV, 539. See egg.
39Eident,
ydan, ythand, adj. diligent. Dalr., I, 233, 35; Fergusson, 94;
Douglas, I, 86, 17. O. N. iðinn, assiduous, diligent,
iðja, to be active. Norse idn, activity, industry.
Cp. Dan. id, idelig.
Elding, sb. fuel. Dalr.,
I, 10, 8. O. N. elding, firing, fuel. Norse elding,
id. Cu. eldin. From O. N. eldr, fire. Cp. Shetland
eld, fire. See N.E.D.
Eldnyng, sb. passion, also
jealousy. Dunbar, 36, 204; 119, 126, literally "firing up." O. N.
eldr, fire. Cp. Sw. elding.
Encrely, ynkirly, adv. especially,
particularly. Bruce, I, 92; I, 301; X, 287. O. N. einkarlegr,
O. Dan. enkorlig, O. Sw. enkorlika, adj. adv.
special, especially. Cp. Norse einkeleg, unusual, extraordinary.
See B-S and Skeat's glossary to Barbour's Bruce.
End, sb. breath. Sat. P., 42, 63.
See aynd.
End, vb. to breathe upon. Dalr.,
I, 29, 6. O. N. anda, Norse anda, breathe, M. E.
anden.
Erd, vb. to bury. Dunbar, F., 372;
Douglas, II, 266, 10; Bruce, XX, 291. O. N. jarða, to bury,
O. Sw. iorþa. O. E. eardian meant "to dwell,
inhabit." See further Wall. A case of borrowed meaning, the form is Eng.
Erding, sb. burial. Bruce, IV, 255;
XIX, 86. See erd vb.
Espyne, sb. a long boat. Bruce,
XVII, 719. O. N. espingr, a ship's boat, Sw. esping.
Ettil, etil, sb. aim, design.
Douglas, II, 249, 13; II, 254. See ettil vb.
Etlyng, sb. aim, endeavor,
intention. Bruce, II, 22; I, 587; R.R., 1906. Probably a deriv. from
ettle, see below, but cp. O. N. etlun, design,
plan, intention.
Ettle, ettil, vb. to intend,
aim at, attempt. O. N. ætla, intend, O. Dan.
ætlæ, ponder over, Norse etla, intend, determine,
or get ready to do a thing. Cu. ettle, York, attle.
In Isaiah, LIX, colophon, ettle signifies "means,
have the meaning."
Falow, vb. to match, compare.
R. R., 3510. Also the regular form of the sb. in Sco., O. N.
félagr. See Skeat, B-S under fēlaȝe. The Sco.
vowel is long as in O. N. and M. E. The tendency in Sco.
is toward a in a great many words that have e in Eng.
Cp. Aberdeen wast for west; laft for left;
stap for step; sattlit for settled,
S. Sco. wat for wet. Similar unfronting of the vowel
is seen in prenciple, reddance, enterdick.
40Fang,
vb. to catch, seize. O. N. fanga, to fetch,
capture. Norse fanga, Dan. fange. This word in
Northern England and Scotland is to be regarded as a Scand. loan-word.
The word fangast, a marriageable maid, cited by Wall, proves this.
Literally the word means something caught (cp. Norse fangst). This
meaning could not possibly have arisen out of the O. E. word, but is
explained by the Norse use of it and the peculiar Norse custom, cp.
fanga kǫnu, to wed a woman, kvan-fang, marriage,
fangs-tið, wedding-season, Norse bryllöp <
brudlaup, the "bride-run." Wall suggests that it may come from
the root of O. E. pp. gefangen. Its presence in S.Eng. diall.
in the meaning "to struggle, to bind," may be explained in this way.
Farandness, sb. comeliness,
handsomeness. R.R., 1931. See farrand. Cp. cunnandness,
from pr. p. cunnand.
Farrand, adj. appearing, generally
well-appearing, handsome, e.g., a seemly farrand person. The word
frequently means "fitting, proper," O. N. fara, to suit,
to fit, a secondary sense of fara, to go.
Feir, fer, adj. sound, unharmed.
O. N. færr, safe, well, in proper condition, originally
applied to a way that was in proper condition or a sea that was safe,
e.g., Petlandsfjörðr var eigi færr, the Pentland Firth was not
safe, could not be crossed. Norse før also has this same meaning,
also means "handy, skillful," finally "strong, well-built." Dan., Sw.
för, able. So in Dunbar, 258, 51. Sometimes spelled fier.
Fell, sb. mountain. O. N.
fjald, Norse fjell. See Wall.
Fillok, sb. a giddy young woman.
Douglas, III, 143, 10; Lyndsay, 87, 2654. Diminutive of filly, q.v.
Filly, sb. a chattering, gossipy
young woman. Ramsay, II, 328. Sco. usage. See Skeat under filly,
O. N. fylja.
Firth, sb. a bay, arm of the sea.
O. N. fjörðr, O. Sw. fjördher. See Skeat.
Flake, sb. a hurdle. Douglas, IV,
14, 10. O. N. flaki, a hurdle, or shield wicker-work. Norse
flake, Sw. flake and O. Sw. flaki. Cu.
flaks, pieces of turf, is probably the same. Cp. Norse
flake, in kote-flake.
Flat, adj. dull, spiritless.
Rolland, Prol. 16. O. N. flat, Norse flat, ashamed,
disappointed, fara flatt fyrir einem, to fare ill, be worsted,
O. Dan. flad, weak.
41Fleckerit,
pp. adj. spotted. Gol. and Gaw., 475. O. N. flekkr,
a spot, flekkóttr, spotted. The r in the Sco. word is
frequentative, not the inflexional ending of the O. N. See also
Skeat under fleck.
Flegger, sb. a flatterer. Dunbar,
F., 242. Dan. dial. flægger, false, flægre, to flatter.
Flingin tree, sb. a piece of timber
hung by way of partition between two horses in a stable (Wagner), Burns,
32, 23. O. N. flengja, Norse flenga, flengja,
to fling, to sling. Sw. flänga, O. Ic. flengja,
to whip up, to cause to hurry, to ride furiously. The Norse and the Dan.,
like the English, do not have the primary meaning seen in O. Ic.
and N.Sw. See further Skeat.
Flit, vb. to move, change abode.
O. N. flyttja, Norse flytta, O. Dan.
flyttæ, O. Sw. flyttia, to move, M. E.
flytten. The O. N. flyttja meant "to migrate,"
as also the M. E. word, otherwise the usage is the same in all
the Scand. languages. Sco. flit is to be derived from O. N.
not from Sw.
Flyre, vb. to grin, leer, whimper,
look surly. Montg. F., 188. Dunbar, T.M.W., 114. O. N.,
flira, Norse flira, smile at, leer, laugh, Dan.
flire to leer, M. E. fliren. The three words
flina, flira and flisa in Scand. mean the same.
Cu. fliar, to laugh heartily. See also Wall.
Flytting, sb. furniture, moveable
goods. Wyntoun, VIII, 38, 50. In Wallace simply in the sense of removal.
O. N. flutning, transport, carriage of goods. The Sco. word
is probably a deriv. from flyt, as indicated also by the umlauted
vowel.
Forelders, sb. pl. parents.
Gau. 15, 2. Dan. forældre, Sw. föräldrar, Norse
foreldre, parents. In the sense "ancestors" the word is general
Gmc, but the above use is specifically Scand. In Sco. the word usually
has the general sense. Gau has Dan. elements that are not to be found
in other Sco. works.
Forjeskit, adj. jaded, fatigued.
Burns, 44, 29. Dan. jask adj., jaske vb. to rumple, put
in disorder, jask, a rag, jasket, hjasket left in
disordered condition. Dan. dial. jasked, clumsy, homely. Sw. dial.
jaska, to walk slovenly and as if tired, jasked, adj.
in bad condition. R.L. Stevenson in "The Blast" uses forjaskit in
the sense of "jaded." The prefix for may be either Eng. or Dan.
42Forloppin,
adj. renegade. Sat., p. 44, 243. The pp. of loup, to leap,
to run, with intensive prefix for. See loup. Cp. the Norse
forloppen from læupa, used precisely in the same way, and
the Dan. dial. loben. Forloppin as sb., Dunbar, 139.
See also loppert.
Fors, sb. a stream. O. N.
fors, N.Ic. and Norse foss, Dan., Sw. foss, stream,
waterfall, O. N. forsa, to foam, spout. The word is very
common in Norway, not so common in Sweden and Denmark.
Forth, sb. Dunbar, 316, 63. Same
as firth.
Fra, Frae, prep. and conj.
from, since. Aberdeen form fae. O. N. frá, from, Dan.
fra, Norse fra, Sw. frå. Deriv. from "from,"
according to Wall, by analogy of o', etc. I do not believe so.
It is first found in Scand. settlements and is confined to them. Besides
m would not be likely to fall out. The case is quite different
with f and n in "of" and "in" when before "the."
Furthermore, the conjunctive use of fra as in Sco. is Norse.
Frecklit, freckled, adj. flecked,
spotted, differing slightly from the Eng. use. Douglas, II, 216, 5;
Mansie Wauch, 18, 5, "freckled corn." O. N. freknur. See
Kluge and Lutz, and Skeat. In M.W. above: "The horn-spoons
green and black freckled."
Frend, sb. relation, relative.
Wyntoun, VII, 10, 354. O. N. frændi, kinsman, O. Dan.
frændi, Norse frænde, Sw. frände, id. O. E.
frēond, O. H.G. friunt, O. Fr. friond,
friund, M. L. G. vrint, "friend." Cp. the Sco.
proverb: "Friends agree best at a distance," relations agree best when
there is no interference of interests, Jamieson.
Frestin, vb. to tempt, taunt, also
to try. Gol. and Gaw., 902, 911; Ramsay, I, 271. O. N.
fræista, to tempt, Norse freista, frista, to tempt,
try, O. Sw. fresta, Dan. friste, Sw. dial.
freista, to attempt, O. E. frāsian.
Ganand,
adj. fitting, proper. Dunbar, 294; Douglas, II, 24, 19.
Pr. p. of gane. Cp. Eng. fitting. See gane.
Gane, vb. to be suitable. L.L.,
991; Rolland, II, 135. O. N. gegna, to suit, to satisfy,
from gegn. O. Sw. gen, same root in Germ.
begegnen. See further Kluge. Entirely different from
gane, to profit.
43Gane,
vb. to profit. L.L., 131; R.R., 1873. O. N. gagne,
to help, be of use, gagn, use, profit, Norse gagna, id.,
O. Sw. gaghna, to profit, Dan. gavne.
Gane, sb. the mouth and throat.
Douglas, III, 168, 26. Cannot come from O. E. gin,
O. N. gin, mouth, because of the quality of the vowel, is,
however, Norse gan, gane, the throat, the mouth and throat,
Sw. gan, gap, the inside of the mouth.
Gait, gate, gat, sb. road, way,
manner. O. N. gata, O. Dan. gatæ, M. E.
gāte. See Wall. Cp. Northern Eng. "to gang i' that rwoad,"
to continue in that manner.
Garth, gairth, sb. the yard, the
house with the enclosure, dwelling. O. N. garðr, a yard,
the court and premises, O. Sw. garþer, gardh, the
homeplace, Dan. gaard, M. E. garth, and yeard
from O. E. geard, Cu. garth, Shetland gard.
Is in form more specifically Norse than Dan. Occurs in a number of
place-names in South Scotland, especially Dumfries. See I, § 3.
Gatefarrin, adj. wayfaring, in the
sense of fit to travel, in suitable apparel for travel. Johnnie Gibb, 12,
35. Wall distinguishes rightly between the O. N. and the Eng. use
of the word fare. This Scand. use of the word is confined to
Norway and Iceland, and is, at any rate in the later period, more
characteristic of Icelandic than Norse. Cp. a similar use of the word
sitta, in Norse, to look well, said of clothes that look well
on a person. Not quite the same.
Gawky, adj. foolish. Burns,
78, 60. From gowk. Cp. gawkish.
Gedde, sb. a pike (fish). Bruce,
II, 576; Sat. P. I, 53, 9. O. N. gedda, the pike, Dan.
gjedde, Sw. gädda. Not in M. E., except in Sco.
works, and does not seem to exist in Eng. diall.
Gemsal, yemseill, yhemsale, sb.
concealment, secrecy. Bruce, XX, 231; Wyntoun, VIII, 19, 206;
VIII, 36, 84. O. N. göymsla, O. Ic. geymsla,
Norse gøymsla, gøymsel, concealment. Dano-Norse
gjemsel. The ending sal is distinctively Scand. Cp.
trængsel, misery; længsel, longing; hørsel, hearing;
pinsel, torture; trudsel, threat; opførsel, conduct;
Sco. tynsell, hansell, etc.
Genȝeld, sb. reward, recompense.
Douglas, II, 100, 12; II, 111, 17; Scott, 59, 62. O. N.
gegn-gjald, reward, O. Dan. gengæld, giengiald
id., giengielde, to reward, Norse gjengjæld. Gen is
the same as the gegn in gegna, to suit, -ȝeld can
be 44either Scand. or Eng. The palatal
g is also Scand. in this word. The compound genȝeld is
Scand. In Sco. also spelled ganȝeld, gaynȝeild.
Ger, gar, vb. to make, cause,
force. O. N. gera (Cl. and V.). O. Dan. göræ,
Sw. göra, Norse gjera, to do, to make. O. Nh.
görva. Gar is the modern form which exhibits regular Sco.
change of er to ar. Cp. serk, sark;
werk, wark.
Gestnyng, sb. hospitality.
Douglas, III, 315, 8. O. N. gistning, a passing the night
as a guest at a place, gista, vb. to spend the night with one,
gestr, guest. O. Dan. gæstning, O. Sw.
gästning, gistning.
Glete, gleit, vb. to glitter.
Douglas, I, 33; II, 88, 16; Montg. C. and S., 1288; Dunbar, G.T., 66.
O. N. glita, to glitter, Dan. glitte. Cp. Shetland
glid, a glittering object. O. E. glitnian >
M. E. glitenien, as O. E. glisnian >
M. E. glistnian, N. Eng. glisten. The M. E.
glitenian (N.Eng. *glitten) was replaced by the Scand.
glitter.
Gleit, sb. literally "anything
shining," used in Palace of Honour, II, 8, for polish of speech.
See the vb.
Gley, sb. a look, glance, stare.
Mansie Wauch, 85, 10; 117, 37. See Wall, gley, to squint, B-S.
glien. Cp. Sw. dial. glia.
Gleg, adj. sharp. See Wall, deriv.
glegly, quickly.
Glitterit, adj. full of glitter.
Dunbar, T.M.W., 30. See glitter in Skeat.
Gowk, sb. a fool. O. N.
gaukr, Norse gæuk, O. Sw. göker, Dan.
gjög. In Sco. very frequently spelled goilk, golk.
Cu. April-gowk, April fool.
Gowl, vb. to scream, yell.
O. N. gaula, Norse gæula, to yell, to scream. Shetland
gjol, gol, to howl, seems to be the same word, but the
palatal before o is strange. Cp. Sco. gowle.
Gowlynge, sb. screaming, howling.
R.R. 823, pr. p. of gowl. Cp. O. N. gaulan, Norse
gæuling, sb. screaming.
Graip, sb. a dung-fork. Burns,
38, 1, 2. Johnnie Gibb, 102, 18; 214, 21. Norse græip, id., Dan.
greb, a three-pronged fork.
Graith, adj. ready, direct. Bruce,
IV, 759; Wallace, V, 76. O. N. græiðr, ready, Norse
greid, simple, clear, ready. Deriv. graithly, directly,
Gol. and Gau. 54. Cp. Yorkshire graidly, proper.
Graith, vb. make ready, dress,
furnish, equip. C.S., 39; R.R., 424;
45Psalms XVIII, 32. O. N.
græiða, to disentangle, set in order, make ready. Norse
greide, to dress (the hair). Cu. graitht, dressed.
Grane, sb. twig, branch. Douglas,
II, 10, 27; Dunbar, 76. O. N. græin, Norse grein,
Dan. gren, O. Sw. gren, branch. The Dan. and Sw.
forms show monophthongation. The Sco. word agrees best with the
Norse.
Granit, adj. forked. Douglas,
II, 133, 4. O. N. græina, to branch, divide into branches,
separate. Norse græina, Sw., Dan. grena, id., O. Sw.
grenadh, adj. forked, Cu. grainet.
Grayth, graith, sb. equipment,
possessions. Dunbar, 229; Lyndsay, 154, 4753; Burns, 23, 18. O. N.
græiða, means "tools, possessions," originally "order."
Cp. the vb. In Douglas, III, 3, 25, graith means "preparation."
Graithly, adv. directly,
speedily. Bruce, XIX, 708; X, 205. O. N. græiðliga,
readily, promptly.
Grith, sb. peace, truce.
Wallace, X, 884. O. N., O. Dan. grið, truce,
protection, peace. O. Sw. grið, gruð. Occurs very
often in the parts of the A-S. Chronicle dealing with the wars with
the Danes, for the first time in 1002. "Frið and grið," meant
"truce," or "peace and protection." See Steenstrup's discussion of
these words, pp. 245-250.
Grouf, on growfe, adj. prone,
on one's face. Douglas, IV, 20, 24; Dunbar, 136, 12. O. N.
á grúfu, grovelling. Norse aa gruva, id., O. Sw.
a gruvo. Sw. diall. gruva, å gruv, Dan. paa gru.
Grys, gryce, sb. a pig. Douglas,
II, 143, 14; Lyndsay, 218, 300; Montg., F., 88. O. N. griss,
a young pig, swine, O. Dan. gris, Norse gris.
Gukk, vb. to act the fool. Dunbar,
F., 497. Probably to be derived from gowk, sb. a fool. It cannot
very well come from geck, to jest, the vowels do not correspond.
In Poet. R., 108, 5, gukit means "foolish, giddy."
Gyll, sb. cleft, glen, ravine.
Douglas, III, 148, 2; Sat. P., 12, 71. O. N. gil, a narrow
glen with a stream at the bottom, Norse gil, gyl,
a mountain ravine. Cp. Cu. gill, ghyll.
Gylmyr, sb. a ewe in her second
year. C.S., 66. O. N. gymbr, a ewe lamb a year old, also
gymbr-lamb, Norse gymber, Dan. gimber, M. E.
gimbir, gimbyr, Cu. gimmer. In northwestern England
and Scotland assimilation of mb to mm took place. Our word
has excrescent l, cp. chalmer, not uncommon.
46Gyrth,
sb. a sanctuary, protection. Bruce, IV, 47; II, 44; C.S., 115.
O. N. grið, a sanctuary, a truce. O. Sw. grið,
gruð, M. Norse gred, protection. Cu. gurth,
cp. grith.
Gyrth sb. a hoop for a barrel,
the barrel. R.R., 27, 81. O. N. gjörð, a girdle, a hoop,
Dan. gjord, Norse gjord, gjaar, gjoir, hoop,
girdle, O. E. form gyrd. Cp. O. N. girða,
to gird, and girði, wood for making hoops.
Gyrthyn, sb. saddle-strap,
saddle-band. Wyntoun, VIII, 36, 64. O. N. gjörð. See Skeat,
girth. Our word is not nominative pl. as the editor of Wyntoun
takes it, but is the singular originally pr. p. of girth, to gird,
to strap. In Poet. R. 113, occurs the form girthing. Cp. Cu.
girting, girtings.
Hailse, vb. to greet, salute.
Bruce, II, 153; C.S., 141. O. N. helsa, older hæilsa,
to hailsay one, to greet, O. Sw. helsa, Dan. hilse,
Norse helsa, id., M. E. hailsen. This word is
entirely different from O. E. healsian, which is
heals + ian and meant "beseech, implore," literally
"embrace." The form of this was halsian in O. Nhb.,
from which Sco. hawse, to embrace.
Hailsing, halsing, sb. a salute,
greeting. Douglas, II, 243, 31; Dunbar "Freires of Berwick" 57; Rosw.
and Lill. 589. O. N., O. Sw., Norse helsa, see above;
Norse helsing, Dan. hilsning, a greeting. Hailsing
formed direct from the vb. hailse.
Haine, vb. to protect, save.
Fergusson, 171; Psalms LXXVIII, 50; LXXX, 19; we're hain'd,
we are saved. O. N. hegna, to hedge in, protect,
hegnaðr, defence, Norse hegna, Dan. hegne,
O. Sw. häghna, to hedge in for the sake of protecting.
Cu. hain.
Hained, pp. adj. sheltered,
secluded, cp. a hained rig, Burns, 8, 1. In modern usage very
frequently means "saved up, hoarded," so hained gear, hoarded
money. See haine above.
Hainin' tower, sb. fortress.
Psalms XVIII, 2; XXXI, 2; LXII, 7. See hain.
Haling (hēling), pr. p. pouring
down. Douglas, II, 47, 31. O. N. hella, to pour out water,
helling, sb. pouring. See Wall under hell. We should expect
a short vowel as generally in Eng. diall. The form hale, however,
occurs in Yorkshire too. Both are from O. N. hella. There is
no Scand. or L. G. word with original a to explain
hale, but cp. the two words dwell
47and wail, to choose.
Dwell from O. N. dvelja, preserves both quality
and quantity of the original vowel. The Sco. form is, however,
dwall. Here the vowel has been opened according to Sco. tendency
of changing e to a before liquids, cp. félag >
falow, also frequently before other consonants. Cp. the same
tendency in certain dialects in America, so tăll or even
tǣl for tell, băll for bell, wăll
for well, etc. If e before l in hell,
to pour, was changed to a, as e in dwell, and later
lengthened, we would have the form hǣl out of which hale
would be regularly developed, and so a double development from the same
word, hell and hale. Wail, to choose, might be
explained in the same way from O. N. vb. velja. Well
would be the regular form, but this is not found. The O. N.
val, choice, is, however, sufficient to explain wail.
Hame-Sucken, sb. the crime of
assaulting a person within his own house. O. N. hæim-sókn,
O. Dan. hem-sokn, an attack on one's house. O. Sw.
hem-sokn, O. E. hamsocn, E. ham-socne. See
Steenstrup, pp. 348-349. The word seems to have come into Eng. during
the time of the Danes in England, though both elements are Eng. as well
as Scand. See Kluge, P. G.2 I, 933.
Hammald, adj. domestic. Douglas,
II, 26, 7. O. N. heimoll, heimill, domestic,
O. Sw. hemoll, Norse heimholt. Excrescent d
after l quite common in Scand. and appears in Sco. in a few
words. See fald.
Hank, sb. thread as it comes
from the measuring reel, a coil of thread. Burns, 584. See Skeat. Cu.
hankle, to entangle, is probably the same word.
Hansel, sb. gift. O. N.
handsal. Bruce, V, 120,
hansell
used ironically means "defeat." See Skeat.
Harn, sb. brain. O. N.
hjarni, brain, O. Dan. hiærnę, Norse hjarne,
Dan. hjerne, O. Sw. hiärne, härne.
Harsk, adj. harsh, cruel. Wyntoun,
IX, 1, 27; Douglas, II, 208, 17. O. N. *harsk, bitter, as
proved by Shetland, ask, hask, hosk, and Norse
hersk. Cp. Dan. harsk. O. Ic. herstr, bitter,
hard, severe, is probably the same word, st to sk. Cp. Cu.
hask weather, dry weather. Shetland, hoski wadder, dry and
windy weather (Jakobson, p. 68). Dan. dial. harsk, bitter, dry.
For dropping of r, as in the Shetland form, cp. kask, from
karsk, in "Havelok," cited in Skeat's list.
48Harskness,
sb. harshness. Dunbar, 104, 19. See harsk.
Harth, adj. hard. Dunbar, F., 181;
O. N. harðr, Norse har(d), Dan. haar(d), hard.
Haugh, sb. a hill, a knoll.
O. N. haugr, a hill, Norse haug, Old Gutnic
haugr, Cu. howe. The O. Sw. högher,
O. Dan. hög, höw, Dan. höi, Shetland
hjog, hög, show later monophthongation. Cp. M. E.
houȝ, hogh.
Haver-meal, sb. oat-meal. Burns,
187, 32, 1. Cp. Norse, havremjöl, O. N. hafrmjöl,
Dan. havre meel. The first element of the compound is used
especially in Scand. settlements in England and is probably due to
Scand. influence. An O. S. hafore exists, but if our word
is native, it ought to be distributed in South Eng. diall. as well.
The second element of the compound may be Eng.
Haynd, sb. Douglas, III, 119, 6.
See aynd.
Heid, sb. brightness. Rolland,
I, 122. O. N. hæið, brightness of the sky, hæið ok
sólskin, brightness and sunshine, hæiða, to brighten,
hæiðbjartr, serene. Cp. heiðs-há-rann, the high hall
of brightness, an O. poetical name for heaven. The Norse adj.
heid, bright, like the Sco. word, shows change of ð to
d.
Hendir, adj. past, bygone. Bruce,
10, 551. Dunbar's poem, This hendir Night. O. N. endr,
formerly. Cp. ender-day in Skeat's list.
Hething, sb. scorn, mockery.
Wyntoun, IX, 10, 92; Wallace, V, 739; Douglas, II, 209, 7. O. N.
hǽðing, sb. scoffing, scorn, hǽða, to scoff, to mock,
Norse, hæding, scorn, mockery, O. Sw. hädha,
hödha.
Hing, vb. to hang. Lindsay, 527,
4033; Gol. and Gaw., 438; Psalms LXIX, 6. Same as Cu. hing, for
which see Wall.
Hooli, hulie, adj. quiet, slow,
leisurely, careful. Dalr., I, 149, 27; A.P.B., 41; Fergusson, 54.
O. N., hógligr, easy, gentle, hógleiki, meekness,
hóglifi, a quiet life, hóglyndr, good-natured.
Hugsum, adj. horrible. Wyntoun,
VII, 5, 176. See ug, to fear.
Husband, sb. a small farmer.
Bruce, X, 387; VII, 151. O. N. hús-bondi, a house-master.
See Skeat. For full discussion of this word as well as bonde,
see Steenstrup, 97-100.
Ill, adj. evil, wicked. Bruce,
III, 10. O. N. illr, adj. bad, Norse ill, idl,
cross, angry, Dan. ilde, adv. badly. As an
49adv. common in M. E. The adj.
use of it more specifically Sco. as in Norse. See Skeat.
Irke, vb. to weary, to suffer.
Dunbar, F., 429; R.R., 456; L.L., 2709. O. N. yrkja, to work,
take effect, O. Sw. yrkja, O. Dan. yrki
(Schlyter), Sw. yrke, to urge, enforce, Norse orka,
be able, always used in the sense of "barely being able to," or, with
the negative, "not being able to." Ramsay uses the word in the sense
of "being vexed."
Irke, adj. weary, lazy. Dunbar,
270, 36; R.R., 3570. See irke, vb. Irkit, pp. adj.
tired, Montg., M.P., 521.
Irking, sb. delay. Winyet,
II, 76; I. Deriv. from irke, vb.
Ithandly, ythandly, ydanlie,
adv. busily, assiduously. Dalr., II, 36, 12; R.R., 36, 95.
O. N. iðinn, busy. See eident.
Karping, carping, sb. speech,
address. Wyntoun, VIII, 18, 85; VIII, 18, 189; IX, 9, 34. See
carp.
Keik, kek, vb. to peep, to pry.
O. N. kíkja, to pry, Norse kika. Undoubtedly a Scand.
loan-word, i>ei as in gleit, gley.
Kendle, kendill, kennle, vb. to
kindle. Lyndsay, 161, 4970; Gol. and Gaw., 1221; Rolland, I, 609.
O. N. kendill, kynda, M. E. kindlen. See Brate.
Kilt, vb. to tuck up, O. N.
kelta, kjalta, O. Dan. kiltæ, the lap, Dan.,
Norse kilte, to tuck up, O. Sw. kilta, sb. For
discussion of this word see Skeat.
Kist, kyst, sb. chest, box.
O. N. kista, Norse, Dan. kiste, a chest. O. E.
cest would have given kest, or chest. See also
Curtis, § 392. The tendency in Sco. is to change i to
e before st, not e to i. Cp. restit,
gestning.
Kittling, kittlen, sb. kitten.
Burns, 38, 2, 3; Mansie Wauch, 23, 19; 210, 10. O. N.
ketlingr, diminutive of ketta, she-cat, Norse
kjetling. Cp. Cu. kitlin. The same diminutive formation
appears in Dan. kylling, older kykling, Norse
kjukling, a chicken.
Knuse, knoose, vb. to bruise,
to press down with the knees, to beat, also to knead. Ramsay, I, 236.
See Jamieson for secondary meanings. O. N. knusa, to bruise,
to beat, Norse knusa, Dan. knuse, crush, O. Sw.
knosa, knusa, crush, press tight, beat. Cp. Goth.
knusian. O. E. cnysian, shows umlaut.
Kow, sb. a fright, terror. Winyet,
I, 107, 12. O. N. kúga, to cow. See cow, vb.
50Lack,
vb. to belittle, blame, reproach, despise. Mont., M.P., 43,
17; R.R., 3242; 3517; Gau., 17, 25. O. N. hlakka, to look
down upon, O. Dan. lakke, to slander, O. Sw.
belacka, id. See lak, sb.
Laiching, sb. sport, play.
R.R., 647. From Sco. vb. laike, to play, O. N.
læika. See lak.
Laif, lave, sb. the rest.
O. N. læif, a leaving, pl. læifar, remnants,
Norse leiv, id., løyva, to leave. Cannot come from
O. E. lāf. See § 20.
Laigh, adj. low. Ramsay,
II, 20; Mansie Wauch, 106, 23. Same as Eng. low, from O. N.
lágr, O. Sw. lagher, O. Dan. lagh, lag,
low. In Eng., O. N. ag > ǫw > ow.
In Scotland ag > aw, did not become ow later.
So the regular Sco. form is law, or, with guttural, lawch.
In laigh, however, a has developed as a would when
not before g or h. The form logh also occurs.
In Dunbar occur low, law, laich, and loigh.
Laigh, vb. to bend down, to kneel.
Psalms XCV, 6. See laigh, adj.
Laike, sb. the stake for which one
plays. Montg., C., I, 109. O. N. læikr, a play, Norse
leik, O. Dan. legh. Also means play in Sco., but the
transferred meaning is common. It cannot come from O. E.
lāc. The e-vowel in Cu., Westm., and S. Scotland
proves an original æi-diphthong. See Part I, § 16.
Lairet, adj. bemired. Psalms LXIX,
2. Norse læir, clay. Dan. dial. ler, O. Sw.
leer, ler, id., Eng. dial. lair. See Wall. Jamieson
gives lair, vb. to stick in the mire, lair, sb. a bog,
lairy, adj. boggy.
Lairing, sb. gutter, deep mud.
Burns, 10, 11. O. N. læir, clay. Same as Yorkshire
lyring, for which see Wall. Lyring seems to show original
E. Scan. monophthongation of æi to e.
Lait, sb. manner, trick. R.R.,
273, 25, 36. O. N., Ic. lát, manners, skipta lítum ok
látum, change shape and manners. O. Sw. lat, manner,
way of proceeding. Cp. O. N. láta-læti, dissimulation,
látbragð, gestures, and Dan. lade, to dissimulate, pretend.
Norse lata, id. Probably related to O. N. lát.
Layking, sb. jousting,
a tournament. Wyntoun, VIII, 35. See laik.
Lak, sb. a plaything. Wallace,
VIII, 1410. Norse leik, a game, leiker (pl.), games, toys.
Sw. dial. leika, a doll, a play sister. Cp. Cu. lakin,
a child's toy.
51Lak,
sb. contempt, reproach, disgrace. Rolland, I, 455; Rosw. and
Lill., 784; R.R., 3092. O. N. lakr, defective, O. Dan.
lak, fault, deficiency. Sw. lack, fault, slander.
O. Sw. lakkare, a slanderer. Cp. Dan. lakkeskrift,
a satirical piece. See lack, vb.
Leister, sb. a three-pronged
salmon spear. Burns, 16, 1. Dumfries and Ayr., any spear for striking
or spearing fish with. O. N. ljóstr, a salmon spear. Norse
ljoster, ljøster, Dan. lyster, Sw. ljuster, vb.
Ljostra, vb. in Norse, to spear fish. Cu. lister,
leester. See also Worsaae, p. 260. Vb. leister in Sco.,
to strike fish with a spear or leister.
Link, vb. to walk briskly, smartly.
Burns, 1291, 6, 5, 2. Norse linke, to hurry along, cp. Sw., Dan.
linke, to limp along. Stevenson in Ille Terrarum 6, 3, uses
link in the sense of "walking along leisurely," which is nearer
the Dan. meaning of the word.
Lirk, vb. to crease, to rumple,
shrivel. Ramsay, I, 307. O. N. lerka, to lace tight,
lirk, sb. a crease, a fold.
Lipin, lippen, vb. to trust.
R.R., 3501; Psalms, XVIII, 30, etc. O. N. litna (?),
very doubtful. See B-S.
Lite, vb. to dye, to stain.
Dalr., I, 48, 24; Douglas, IV, 190, 32. O. N. lita,
to dye, Shetland, to litt. See Wall.
Litling, sb. dyeing. Sat. P.,
48, 1. See lit.
Loft, sb. upper room, gallery.
O. N. lopt, Norse loft, Aberdeen laft.
See Skeat.
Loft, vb. to equip with a loft.
C.S., 96. See loft, sb.
Lokmen, sb. pl. executioners.
Wallace, 134. O. Dan., O. Sw. lagman. O. N.
lögmaðr, literally "the law-man," was the speaker of the law.
In Iceland, particularly, the lögmaðr was the law-speaker.
In Norway a lögman seems also to have meant a country sheriff
or officer, which comes closer to the use in Wallace. A little doubtful.
Lopprit, pp. clotted. Douglas,
II, 157, 28; III, 306, 4. O. N. hlaupa (of milk), to curdle
(of blood), to coagulate. So Norse lopen, løpen (from
læupa, løypa), thick, coagulated. Dan. at löbe
sammen, to curdle, löbe, make curdle, löbe, sb.
curdled milk. O. N. hlöypa mjolk, id., literally "to make
milk leap together." O. Sw. löpa. In Cu. milk is said to be
loppert when curdled.
52Loun,
lown, adj. quiet, calm, sheltered. O. N. logn,
O. Sw. lughn. See Wall under lownd.
Loup, lowp, vb. to leap, to jump.
O. N. hlaupa, to leap, Norse læupa, run, O. Sw.
löpa, Dan. löbe. Cp. Cu. lowpy-dike, a husband of
unfaithful habits, and the secondary meanings of Norse laupa
given in Aasen.
Loup, lowp, sb. a jump,
a spring. Bruce, VI, 638; X, 414; Sco. Pro. 3. See the verb.
Louse, lowse, adj. loose, free,
unfettered. Wyntoun, IX, 2, 63; Douglas, I, 95, 9; I, 95, 23. O. N.
lauss, Norse læus, loose. See Wall. Sco. to be
louse, to be abroad, about. The Norse word is similarly used. Cp.
Germ. los, and Dan. lös. Waddell has the word
godlowse, godless.
Louse, lowse, vb. to make loose,
release. C.S., 121; Lyndsay, 460, 232; K.Q., 34. O. N. lauss.
The O. N. vb. was løysa. See louse, adj.
Low, vb. to humble. R.R., 148.
Same as Eng. to lower. So in Sco. to hey, to heighten.
Low, vb. to flame, to flare up,
kindle. Dunbar, G.T., 45; Ramsay, II, 17; Psalms, LXXVI. O. N.
lǫga, to burn with a flame, Norse lǫga,
laaga, to blaze, but cp. the Sco. sb. lowe.
Lowe, sb. flame. O. N.
lǫgi, Norse laage. See Skeat.
Lowne, vb. to shelter. Bruce, XV,
276; M. E. lounen, to shelter. See lowne, adj.
Douglas, II, 236, 31, lownit, pp. serene, tranquil.
Luck, vb. to succeed. Montg.,
C., 643. O. N. lukka, reflexive, to succeed (bene succedere,
Haldorson), lukka, sb. luck. O. Sw. lukka,
löcka and lykka. In Scand. dial. the latter umlauted form
only is found for the vb., but Norse sb. lukka, Dan. sb.
lykke. Undoubtedly Norse influence in Sco.
Lucken, vb. to give luck,
cause to succeed. Sco. formation from luck. Cp. slok
and sloken.
Lufe, loof, sb. the palm of the
hand. O. N lófi, the hollow of the hand, the palm, Norse
love, id., Sw. dial. love.
Lug, sb. the ear. See Skeat and
Wall. Cp. Norse lugga, to pull, and lug as a sb. originally
"that which is pulled." In Cu. lug means "the handle of a pail."
Compare the Eng. to lug, to carry.
Lythe, vb. to listen. Dunbar, 192,
I. O. N. hlyða, to listen, Dan. lytte, O. Sw.
lyÞa, id.
53Maik,
sb. companion, partner, consort. Dunbar, T.M.W., 32;
Philotus, 2. O. N. maki, partner, an equal, Norse
make, Dan. mage, O. Sw. maki, M. E.
make, consort, partner.
Maikless, adj. without peer.
Wyntoun, IX, Prol. 48; Montg. "The Lady Margaret Montgomery," 8.
O. N. maki + laus, Norse makalæus, Dan.
magelös, extraordinary.
Mauch, adj. full of maggots.
Dunbar, F., 241. O. N. maðkr, a maggot, W. Norse, with
assimilation, makk, E. Norse mark, Dan. madik,
Sw. dial. mark, O. Sw. matk, and madhker. The
k is a diminutive ending, cp. Eng. moth < O. E.
maða. In the Sco. word ð fell out and a was
lengthened for compensation. Cp. Cu. mawk, a midge, Eng. dial.
mawkish. Skeat cites Eng. dial. form mad.
Melder, sb. flour, meal just
ground. Burns, 127, 113. O. N. meldr, flour, or corn in the
mill, Norse melder, wheat about to be ground, or flour that has
just been ground, melderlas, a load of wheat intended for the
mill, meldersekk, a bag of flour. Cp. Cu. melder, the
quantity of meal ground at one time.
Mense, vb. to do grace to.
Lyndsay, 529. See mensk, sb. The change of sk to s
is characteristic of Sco. See mensk.
Mensedom, sb. wisdom. Psalms, CV,
22. See mensk.
Mensk, mense, sb. proper conduct,
more generally honor. Dunbar, T.M.W., 352; Wyntoun, VIII,
42, 143; Burns, 90, 1. O. N. mennska. For discussion of this
word see Wall. Deriv. menskless, menskful, menskly.
Midding, mydding, sb. a midden.
C.S., 12; Lyndsay, 216, 269. Dan. mödding, older möghdyngh,
O. N. mykidyngja, Sw. dial. mödding, Cu.
middin.
Mon, man, maun, vb. must,
O. N. monu (munu), will, shall, Norse mun,
will, but used variously. Dan. monne, mon, as an auxiliary
vb. used very much like do in Eng. Sw. mån, Cu. mun.
The form of the Sco. word is the same in all persons. So in Norse.
Myth, vb. to mark, recognize.
Wallace, V, 664; Douglas, I, 28, 26. O. N. miða, to show,
to mark a place, Norse mida, mark a place, mid sb. a mark
by which to find a place. O. E. miðan, meant "to conceal,
lie concealed," same as O. H.G. midan, vitare, occultare,
Germ. meiden, vermeiden, avoid.
Neiris,
sb. pl. the kidneys. C.S., 67. O. N. nyra, a kidney,
54Norse nyra, O. Dan.
nyre, Sw. niura, Sw. dial. nyra, M. E.
nere. Cp. Sco. eir, an eir, for a neir,
as in Eng. augur, an augur, a naugur.
Nevin, vb. to name. Gol. and Gaw.,
506; Howlate, II, 3, 7. O. N. nefna, Norse nevna,
Dan. nævne, to name, O. E. namnian.
Nieve, neefe, neve, sb. the hand,
the fist. O. N. hnefi, Norse neve, hand, fist,
Shetland nev, Cu. neif, neive, neef. Wall
considers this an unrecorded Eng. word, which is possible. Its general
distribution in Scand. dial. and elsewhere in Scand. settlements, as
Northern and Central England, Southern Scotland, Shetland, etc., as well
as its absence in all other Gmc. languages, indicates, however, that the
word is Scand. in Eng. diall.
Nout, nowt, sb. cattle. O. N.
naut, cattle, Norse næut id. Dan. nöd, Sw.
noet, Shetland nød. In M. Sco., also written
nolt.
Nyk, nek, vb. to shake the head
in denial of anything, "to nyk with nay." Gol. and Gaw, 115; Philotus,
32. Norse nikka, to bow slightly, nikk, a slight bow, Sw.
neka, to deny, say no, M. E. nicken.
Nyte, vb. to deny. Gol. and Gaw.,
889; Wyntoun, VIII, 2, 16. O. N. næita, to deny, refuse,
Norse neitta, neikta, nekta, id., neiting,
a denial, neitan, id., Dan. nægte.
Onding, sb. terror. Psalms,
LXXXVIII, 15. See ding.
Onfarrand, adj. ill-looking.
Douglas, III, 250, 26. See farrand.
On loft, adv. up. Gol. and Gaw.,
485; Bruce, XIII, 652. O. N. á loft, up into the air. See
Skeat aloft. Sco. Pro. 27, upon loft, up.
On loft, adv. aloud. Dunbar,
T.M.W., 338. See above.
Outwale, sb. the best, the choice.
Lyndsay, XX, 4. Eng. out + O. N. val; similar
formation to Norse udvalg, utval.
Pirrye, sb.
whirlwind. Sat. P., I, 178. See bir.
Pocknet, sb. from O. N.
poki, pouch and net, a net. A Dumfriesshire word. Not
found in any Sco. text but given by Worsaae, p. 260, and in Jamieson,
where the following description is given of pocknet fishing.
This is performed by fixing stakes or stours, as they are
called, in the sand either in the channel of a river, or in the sand
which is dry at low water. These stours are fixed in a line across the
tideway at a distance 55of 46 inches
from each other, about three feet high above the sand, and between
every two of these stours is fixed a pocknet, tied by a rope to the
top of each stour.
P. Dorneck, Dumr. Statist.
Acc., II, 1.
Quey, quoy,
sb. a young cow,
a yearling. Douglas, II, 178, 19; II, 299, 8; Burns, 595. O. N.
Norse kviga, Dan. dial. kvie. Cp. Shetland hwäi
and kwäi. Cu. why, wheye (guttural wh).
Quhelm, whelm, vb. to overturn,
to turn upside down. Douglas, II, 64, 14; II, 264, 16. Burns, 66, 1,
also written quhelme, whamle, whemle. In Cu.
whemmel, M. E. hwēlmen. See Skeat under
whelm. Cp. Norse kvelm and hvelm. The O. N.
hvelfa, N. Norse kvelva, means "to turn upside down."
Quyok, quyach, diminutive of
quey, q. v.
Ra (rē), sb. a sail-yard.
Douglas, II, 274, 16. O. N., Ic. rá, Dan. raa, Norse
raa, Sw. ra, Shetland roe, a sail-yard.
Rad, red, adj. afraid. Bruce, XII,
431; Dunbar, T.M.W., 320; Montg. C. and S., 1392. O. N.
hræddr, timid, frightened, Norse rædd, Dan. ræd, Sw.
rädd, id., M. E. rad. Cp. O. N. hræða,
to frighten, Norse rædda.
Radness, sb. timidity, fear. R.R.,
1166; 1660. Deriv. from rad, q.v.
Radeur, sb. fear. L.L., 1489. Sco.
formation from rad adj., afraid. M. E. reddour,
redour is a different word from O. Fr. reidur,
later roideur, see B-S.
Ragged, adj. full of rag,
ragwort. Burns, 103, 85. See ragweed.
Ragweed, sb. an herb, ragwort.
Burns, 6, 5, 9. O. N. rögg, M. E. ragge for
which see B-S. Cp. Sw. dial. ragg, rogga.
Raise, raize, vb. to incite,
stir up. Burns, 6, 5, 4; and 7, 1, 1. Used here as Sco. bait
would be used, otherwise generally as Eng. raise, from O. N.
ræisa.
Rake, raik (rēk), vb. to go,
walk, wander, also depart. Dunbar, T.M.W., 524; Gol. and
Gaw., 72; Psalms, XVIII, 10. O. N. ræika, to wander, Norse
ræka, to wander about aimlessly. Cp. Cu. rake, a journey,
"He's teann a rake ower to Kendal." See also Wall.
Ramfeezled, adj. exhausted,
fatigued. Burns, 42, 1, 3. One of a number of words in Sco. formed with
ram, cp. ramshackle, ramstam, rammous,
etc. The second element probably the same as Eng. fizzle in the
expression to fizzle out, fail, come to nought. See fizz
in Skeat. See rammys.
56Rammeist,
vb.pret. ran wild, frenzied. Montg., F., 511. Cp. rammous
adj. Probably the same used as a vb. Cp. Norse ramsa,
to slash together, do a thing hurriedly, also to make a noise.
Rammys, rammous, adj. excited,
violent. R.R., 113. O. N. ramr, rammr, strong,
vehement, Norse ram, powerful, risky, hazardous. Cl. and V. cites
the N. Eng. form ram, bitter, which is the same word.
Ramstam, adj. indiscreet, with an
idea of rushing into anything thoughtlessly. Burns, 32, 22. O. N.
rammr, vehement, and stam, stiff, hard, unbending. Cp. Cu.
ram, strong, and rammish, violent, and American slang
rambunktious, obstreperous.
Ranegill, sb. a scapegrace,
a worthless fellow. Johnnie Gibb, 179, 11. Cp. Norse rangel,
ranglefant, a loafer, rascal. Doubtful.
Rangale, sb. rabble, mob. Wyntoun,
VIII, 36, 35; Bruce, XII, 474. O. N. hrang, noise, tumult,
especially the noise a crowd makes.
Red, vb. to clear away, clear up,
set to rights. R.R., 1242; Isaiah, LX, 10. O. N. hryðja,
to clear away, Norse rydja, rydda, Sw. rödja, Dan.
rydde. Cp. Eng. rid, O. Fr. hredda, O. E.
hreddan, Norse redda, save, liberate. Germ. retten
is another word.
Red up, vb. open up. Isaiah, XL, 3;
LXII, 10. O. N. hryðja upp, Norse rydde op, clear up.
In Ramsay, II, 225, red up pp. means dressed. See also Wall under
red.
Redding, sb. growing afraid.
Lyndsay, 356, 1263. See rad, red.
Reese, vb. to extol. Ramsay, I, 262.
Eng. raise. See also raise above, as used in Burns.
Restit (very frequently reestit),
adj. dry, withered. Burns, 6, 5. Dan. riste, to dry
something over a rist, ristet, dried. O. N.
rist, a gridiron. Cp. Cu. reestit, rancid, rusty.
Rive, ryfe, rif (rīv), vb.
to tear, break open, cleave. Lyndsay, 434, 156; Wynyet, II, 6514; Psalms,
XXIX, 5. O. N. rifa, to tear, Norse riva,
reiva, Dan. rive, Sw. rifwa, M. E. raven
id. Cp. Dunbar, T.M.W., 350, "rif into sondir," tear to
pieces, and Norse "rive sonde." Cu. reavv, and ryve.
Rock, sb. a loom, spinning wheel,
spinning distaff. Lyndsay, 109, 3330; Burns, 223, 112, 3; 240, 148, 1.
O. N. rokkr, a loom, Norse rokk, Dan. rok,
spinning wheel.
Rocking, sb. "a chat, a friendly
visit at which they would spin on 57the
rock which the visitor carried along with her" (Wagner). Burns, 4, 28.
See rock.
Rove, rufe, sb. rest, repose.
Montg., M.P., VI, 20; Scott, 62, 19. O. N. ró, Norse,
Dan. ro, quiet, rest, Orm. ro (see Brate). Final epenthetic
v also occurs in other words in Sco. Cp. qhwov for qwho,
cruive, besides crue, etc.
Rowste, vb. "to cry with a rough
voice." Douglas, III, 304, 11. O. N. raust, the voice.
Dan. röst, Sw. röst, Norse ryest. Cp. O. N.
rausa, to talk loud or fast. Shetland ruz (Cl. and V.).
The Sco. vb. seems to be formed from a sb. rowste, which occurs
in Orm.
Rowt, rout, vb. to cry out, roar.
Lyndsay, 538, 4353; Montg., F., 501; Rolland, IV, 406. O. N.
rauta, O. Ic. rǫuta, to roar, to bellow, Norse
rauta, ræuta, Sw. dial. röta, id. The Sw. word
exhibits the E.Scand. monophthongation, which took place in Dan. about 900.
Rowt, sb. loud clamor. Poet. R.,
157; Ramsay, I, 251. See vb. rowt.
Ruckle, rickle, sb. a little heap
of anything. Lyndsay, 539, 4356; Burns, 596; M.W., 114, 3.
See Wall under rook. Ruckle is the form of the word in
Edinburgh dial. May be Eng. Skeat considers Eng. ruck Scand. and
rick Eng., but in Scotland the one may be simply a variant of the
other, not necessarily a doublet. Cp. fill and full.
Ruik, a heap. Lyndsay, 454, 2079; 494,
3075. Spelled ruck, meaning "a cock of hay," in Ramsay's
"The Gentle Shepherd," 160. See Wall, under rook. Cp. Cu.
ruck, the chief part, the majority.
Roop and Stoop. Ramsay, II, 527;
M.W. 203, 8; 214, 5. Cp. rubb og stubb, every particle. Aasen
defines "löst og fast, smaat og stort, selja rubb og stubb," sell
everything, dispose of all one has; literally "stump and piece,"
"rump and stump." Used exactly the same way in Sco. Of very frequent
occurrence in this sense in Norway.
Rund, roond, roon, sb. the border
of a web, the edge. Burns, 596. O. N. rond, rim, border, Dan.
rand, a line, seam, the border, Norse rand, rond,
a streak, seam, edge, border. Cp. Cu. randit, streaked, Norse
randet, id.
Runsik, vb. to ransack. Wallace,
VII, 120. O. N. rannsaka, to
58search a house, Norse ransaka,
from ran, house, and saka, söka, seek. See Skeat,
and Kluge and Lutz.
Rusare, sb, a flatterer. R.R.,
3356. See ruse.
Ruse, roose, russ (rūs), vb.
to praise, to boast, pride oneself. Douglas, II, 57, 8; Rolland, I, 389;
R.R., 2823. O. N. rósa, older hrósa, to praise,
Norse rosa, Dan. rose, Sw. rosa, M. E.
(h)rosen, Lincolnshire rose, reouse, Cu.
roose.
Ruse, sb. praise, a boast. Dunbar,
T.M.W., 431; Sat. P., 12, 17. O. N. hrós, praise,
Norse, Dan. ros.
Saikless,
adj. innocent. Lyndsay,
545, 4563. O. N. saklauss, O. E. saclēas. The
O. E. word is a loan-word from O. Nh. See Steenstrup, 210-211.
In modern Eng. dial. the form is generally sackless.
Saiklessness, sb. innocence,
innocency. Psalms, XXVI, 6, 11; LXXIII, 13. See saikless.
Sait, sb. session, court. Dunbar,
79, 41. O. N. sǽti, seat, sitting, Norse sæte,
id. See Skeat under seat.
Saucht, adj. reconciled, also at
ease, undisturbed, tranquil. Bruce, N, 300; Douglas, II, 91, 22.
O. E. saht, borrowed from O. N. See Kluge,
P. G.2 I, 934. For discussion of O. E.
seht and sehtian see Steenstrup, 181-182. In Howlate,
III, 16, sacht vb. pret., made peace.
Say, sb. a milk-pail, also tub.
Jamieson, Dumfries. O. N. sár, a large cask, Norse
saa, a pail, a water-bucket, a wooden tub, Dan. saa,
vandsaa, waterpail, Sw. så, id.
Scait, sb. the skate fish. Dunbar,
261, 9. O. N. skata, Norse skata, the skate,
M. E. scate. Ir. scat, sgat, id., is a
loan-word from O. N. (Cp. Craigie, p. 163). O. N. sk
becomes quite regularly sg in Ir. and Gael. Cp. also
sgeir < skar. Cu. skeatt exhibits regular
i-fracture from older a.
Scaith, scath, vb. to injure.
Bruce, IV, 363; XII, 392; R. R., 1323. Not from O. Nhb.
sceðða, but from O. N. skaða, Norse skade,
with which the vowel corresponds.
Scar, sb. a precipitous bank of
earth, a bare place on the side of a steep hill, a cliff. Ramsay,
II, 205; Burns, 10, 11. Also written skard, scair,
scaur. O. N. sker, a skerry, an isolated rock
in the sea. Norse skjær, a projecting cliff, a bank of rocky
ground, Dan. skjær, skær, a rock in the water near the
land, Sw. skär, M. E. sker, scerre. Cp. Cu.
skerr, a precipice. 59The
fundamental idea is "something cut apart, standing by itself." Root
the same as in the Norse skera, to cut, Eng. shear and
shore, sea-shore. Cp. the O. E. vb. scorian
cited by Sweet.
Scarth, sb. the cormorant.
Dunbar, T.M.W., 92; F., 194; Douglas, I, 46, 15. O. N.
skarfr, Norse skarv, cormorant. Shetland, scarf.
Schoir, sb. a threat, menace.
Bruce, VI, 621; Gol. and Gaw., 103. B-S. derive from O. Sw.
skorra, O. N. skera.
Scol, vb. to wish one health,
an expression used in drinking, just as the Norse skaal is used.
Montg. S., 69, 13. O. N. skal, Norse skaal,
a drinking cup. Cp. Sco. skull, a goblet. Ir.-Gael. scala,
sgaile, a beaker, is a Norse loan-word (Craigie).
Scoug, scog, vb. to shelter.
M.W., 20, 19; Isaiah, XVIII, 6. O. N. skuggi,
shade, Norse skugge, to shade, Sw. skugga, sb., Dan.
skygge, to shade. Spelled scug also in Sco.
Scratch, sb. an hermaphrodite.
Jamieson. O. N. skratti, a monster. This form exists in
Yorkshire, otherwise the form in Eng. dial. is scrat. See Wall.
Scrip, a coarse or obscene gesture.
Wallace, VI, 143. Probably from O. N. skripi. Cp.
skripatal, scurrilous language, skripalæti, buffoonery,
scurrilous gestures. With the Sco. word cp. the Norse skripa, vb.,
skripa, sb. f., and Ic. skrípr, sb. m. See Aasen.
Scud, vb. to hurry away, hasten on.
Burns, 55, 1, 4. Eng. scud Skeat derives from Dan. skyde,
Sw. skutta. The Sw. form is nearest, the Dan. form shows umlaut.
The corresponding O. E. word is scēotan.
Scudler, a male kitchen servant. Wallace,
5, 10, 27. Cp. O. N. skutilsvæinn, a page at a royal table.
Skutil is the same as O. E. scutel, a dish, a trencher.
In O. N. it means also "a small table." The unpalatalized sc,
as well as the usage, would indicate that the word is a loan-word.
Seir, ser, adj. various, separate.
Rolland, Prol., 295; R.R., 990; "Freires of Berwick," 321. O. N.
sér, for oneself, separately. Originally the dative of the refl.
pron., but used very frequently as an adverb.
Semeley, adv. proper, looking
properly. Wallace, I, 191; Wyntoun, IX, 26, 53. Seimly,
semely-farrand, good-looking,
hand60some, also means "in proper
condition." Redundant, since semely and farrand in Sco.
mean the same. O. N. sæmiligr. See Skeat.
Shacklet, adj. crooked, distorted.
Burns, 322, I, 7. O. N. skakkr, skew, wry, distorted,
skakki-fótr, wry leg, Norse skakk, crooked, so Sw. dial.
skak, Dan. skak, slanting. The palatal sh is
unusual, but cp. dash from daska. Norse words generally
preserve sk in all positions, genuine Eng. words do not. See
Part I, 12 and 13.
Shiel, sb. shelter, protection.
Burns, 226, 119, 3. O. N, skjól, shelter, cover, refuge,
Norse skjul, skjol, pron. shul, shol, Dan.
skjul, id., skjule, to conceal. Shielin, sb.
shelter, may be formed from the vb.
Shore, vb. to threaten. Ramsay,
I, 261. Origin rather doubtful. Has been considered Scand. See
schoir.
Sit (sīt), vb. to grieve.
Wallace, I, 438. O. N. sýta, Norse syta, to care.
See syte, sb.
Sitefull, adj. sorrowful,
distressing. Douglas, I, 40, 19. Cp. Norse suteful.
See syte, sb.
Skail, skale, scale, vb. to
scatter, disperse, dismiss, part, leave. A very common word. O. N.
skilja, separate, O. Dan. skiliæ, Norse,
skilja, Dan. skille, Sw. dial. skila. The long
vowel is unusual. Cp. skeely in N. Sco. from O. N.
skilinn. The same change of i to an e-vowel is observed
in gleit and quey.
Skail, sb. a storm, a strong
wind that "skails." Isaiah, XXVIII, 2. See skail, vb.
Skath, skaith, scaith, sb. harm,
misery. O. N. skaði, harm, damage, Norse skade, id.,
Dan. skade, O. E. sceaða.
Skant, sb. want, poverty. Burns,
290, I, 3. O. N. skammt. See Skeat. Cp. skerum skamti,
in short measure.
Skantlin, sb. little. Burns,
5, 5, 7. As adv. generally skantlins, scantlings,
scarcely. O. N. skamt.
Skantly, adv. with difficulty,
hardly. C.S., 69. See skant.
Skar, sb. a scarecrow, a fright.
Lyndsay, 437, 1633. From vb. skar, to frighten, Eng. scare,
M. E. skerren. O. N. skirra. See Skeat.
Skeigh, adj. originally meant timid,
then very frequently, dainty, nice, finally, proud. Dunbar, T.M.W., 357.
Burns, 193, 46, I. Norse sky, Dan. sky, adj. and also vb.
sky, to avoid. 61B-S. compares Sw.
skygg also, which is the same word, but the vowel is long. The Sco.
word, furthermore, seems to suggest an older diphthong. It could, however,
not be O. E. sceah, which gave M. E. scheah and
should have become schee in N. Sco. Doubtful.
Sker, adj. timid, easily
frightened. Dunbar, T.M.W., 357; Lyndsay, 227, 126.
O. N. skjarr, shy, timid, Sw. dial. skar, M. E.
scer, Cu. scar, wild.
Skewyt, vb. pret. turned obliquely.
Wallace, IX, 148. O. N. skæifr, O. Ic. skeifr,
oblique, Norse skæiv, skjaiv, crooked, Dan. skjæv.
The Dan word exhibits monophthongation of æi to æ (not to
e, i, as in sten).
Skill, sb. motive, reason. Gol. and
Gaw., 147; Bruce, I, 214, 7. See Skeat, and Kluge and Lutz. In Dunbar,
307, 63, "did nane skill," did not do a wise thing.
Skog, scoug, sb. place of retreat,
shelter, protection. Dalr., I, 30, 29; Isaiah, XXXII, 2. O. N.
skuggi, shade, Norse skugge, O. Sw. skuggi.
Skogy, adj. shady. Douglas,
III, 1, 21, 16. See scoug.
Skrech, skrik, sb. a scream, yell.
C.S., 39; Rolland, IV, 336. O. N. Norse skrik, a cry, a yell,
skrikja, vb. Dan. skrig. Cu. skrike to scream.
Eng. shriek < O. E. *scrician.
Skryp, sb. bag. Dunbar, F., 509.
O. N. skreppa, a bag, Norse skreppa, Dan.
skreppe, Sw. skräppa, id.
Skugg, sb. a shadow. Dunbar,
III, 24, 12. O. N. skuggi. See skog. Cp. skog,
vb. to hide. Isaiah, XXVIII, 15.
Skyle, vb. to hide, cover.
Jamieson, quotation from Henryson. O. N. skjúla,
O. Ic. skjóla, to screen, shelter, Norse skjula,
Dan. skjul, Sw. skyla, Fer. skỹla, Shetland
skail, skol, cover, protect. Our word corresponds most
closely to the Fer. word. Both are developed out of O. N.
skjúla. Cp. O. N. mjúkr > meek,
in standard Eng. Norse skjula has preserved the original
unumlauted vowel. The O. N. word was pronounced sk-iula
or sk-júla. Cp. skjenka, which is N. Norse dial.
sheinka. From skj developed sh in shielin.
Skyrin, adj. shining, conspicuous
because of brightness, showy. Burns, 210, 87, 3. O. N. skirr,
clear, bright, skira, to make clear, skýra, to purify.
(Cp. Norse skjerr-torsdag, O. N. skiriþorsdagr,
Maundy Thursday.) O. E. scir > N. Eng. sheer.
62Slaik,
vb. to smooth, to lick. L.L., 457, 2173. O. N.
slæikja, to lick, Norse sleikja, Dan. slikke,
O. Sw. slekia, Sw. dial. släkja. The Eng. word
slick, with a short vowel, corresponds exactly to the Dan. word,
but may be native. Cp. M. L. G. slicken. Slikke
in Dan. may be a loan-word from L. G. The Sco. slaik
corresponds in every way to the O. N., and is certainly a
loan-word proved by quality and quantity of vowel.
Slak, sb. a pit, a hollow in the
ground, hollow place. Bruce, XIV, 536; R.R., 769. O. N.
slakki, a slope, Norse slakke, Dan. slank.
Exhibits W. Scand. assimilation of nk to kk. Cu.
slack, a shallow dell (Dickinson), Kent, slank.
Sle, adj. experienced, skillful.
Bruce, XVI, 355; XVII, 44. O. N. slægr, O. Ic.
slægr, Eng. sly. See Skeat.
Sleek, adj. neat, prancing,
said of a horse. Burns, 7, 1, 1. O. N. slikr, smooth.
Sleikit, smooth, Dunbar, 567, 38; Burns, 117, 114. See Skeat,
under sleek, slick.
Sleuth, sb. track. Bruce,
VII, 1 and 44. O. N. slóð, track, trail. Cp. Norse
slod, slode.
Sloke, vb. to quench. Isaiah,
I, 2, 3; and 49, 26. O. N. slökva, to quench. O. Ic.
slækva, Norse slökka, id. The word does not show the Scand.
umlaut o > ö. Cu. sleck has further developed the
umlaut ö to e. Cp. O. Ic. æ < O. Nh.
æ. All such words in Norse exhibit the intermediate stage ö
up to the present time. In Ic. the ö developed to æ, in the
first half of the 13th century. (See Noreen P. G.2 I,
529.) In later O. Nhb. also æ > e.
Sloken, slokyn, vb. to quench,
to satisfy. Dunbar, T.M.W., 283; K.Q., 42; M.W., 116, 35. O. N.
slokna, Norse slokna, inchoative of slökva. It may,
however, be an infinitive in en from slökkva, see slock.
Slokning, sb. the act of quenching,
also the power of quenching. Douglas, II, 26, heading of Chapter XII;
Montg. C. and S., 1377. Pr. p., see sloken. Cp. O. N.
slokning, Dan. slukning.
Slonk, sb. a ditch, a depression
in the land, also a slope on the mountain side. Winyet, II, 19, 5;
Wallace, III, 4. Dan. slank, a depression in the land, a hollow,
O. N. slakki, Norse slakke. The non-assimilation
proves E.Scand. source. Cp. Sw. dial. slakk adj. bending, e.g.,
"bakken jär no na slakk," the hill slopes a great deal, again a
W. Scand. form in Sw. dial. 63The
word is probably related to Eng. slack, loose, lax, Dan.
slak, Norse slāk.
Slut, sb. a slattern, an untidy
woman. Dunbar, 119, 71. O. N., O. Ic. slöttr. See
Skeat.
Smaik, sb. a coward. Sat. P.,
39, 175; Lyndsay, 425, 1320, and 434, 1562. O. N. smöykr,
adj. timid, M. L. G. smeker means "a flatterer,"
besides the vowel, as well as the final r of the L. G.
word, is against a L. G. origin of the Sco. word. The Sco.
ai indicates an original diphthong. Cp. Cu. smaik
applied to a small boy, or any small being.
Snape-dike, sb. an enclosure.
Jamieson, Ayr. Cp. O. N. snap, a pasture for cattle,
especially a winter pasture (Haldorson), snapa, vb. to nibble,
M. E. snaipen. The vowel in the Sco. word proves an original
open a, hence it is from the vb. snapa. O. N.
snap, sb. would have given snăp. Our word is snēp.
Snib, sneb, vb. to snub, check,
reprove. Sat., P., 33, 18; L.L., 3387. Dan. snibbe, M. E.
snibben. Eng. snub and M. E. snubben correspond
to O. N. snubba with original unumlauted vowel.
Snite, vb. to blow the nose, to
snuff a candle. Jamieson. O. N. snýta, Norse snyta,
used exactly the same way, Dan. snyde. Sw. snute and
M. L. G. snuten have unumlauted vowel which would have
given snoot, snowt, or snoit in Sco.
Sock, vb. to examine, investigate.
Fergusson, 169. Probably from O. N. sækja, to seek, Norse
söka, sökja, Dan. söge since O. Nhb.
sæca later became sēca and developed as W. S.
sécan.
Solande, sb. a soland goose.
Dalr., I, 25, 1. O. N. súla + n (Skeat). The d
is epenthetic. The n is the post-positive definite article,
a peculiarly Scand. characteristic.
Sop, sb. a round, compact body.
Bruce, III, 47. O. N. soppr, a ball (Skeat), Norse
sopp, id. Cp. Cu. sop, "a milk-maid's cushion for
the head."
Soum, sb. The rope or chain a plow
is drawn by. Dunbar, III, 126, 21. O. N. saumr, a seam, trace.
In Bruce, X, 180, hede-soyme, sb. the trace.
Soym, sb. trace of a cart. Bruce,
X, 233. From O. N. saumr, a seam (Skeat), Norse saum,
Dan. söm. For oy in place of ou, as we should expect,
cp. gowk and goilk, lowp and loip, etc.,
and the Norse laupa and loipa.
64Spae, spa,
vb. to prophesy. Douglas, II, 142, 2; II, 2; Burns, 37, 2, 2.
O. N. spá, to prophesy, Norse spaa, Dan. spaa,
id. Cp. spaamand, spaafolk, and Sco. spaeman,
spaefolk, spaewife.
Spay, spe, sb. prophecy, omen,
augury. Dalr., II, 5, 8; Isaiah, XLVII, 12. O. N. spá,
a prophecy. Vǫluspá, the vala's prophecy, M. E. spa.
Spaequean, sb. fortune teller,
spaewife. Isaiah, XLVII. O. N. spákona, a woman who spaes.
The compound may, however, be Sco.
Spale, sb. lath, chip, splinter.
R.R., 1979; Burns, 132, 114. Norse spela, spila,
speil, a splinter, a chip, also spol. O. N.
spölr, a rail, bar, lattice work, sometimes means "a short piece
of anything." Cu. speal. The O. E. word is speld.
Cp. Fr. espalier.
Spenn, vb. to button, to lace.
Jamieson. O. N. spenna, to clasp. Norse spenna, lace,
spenne sb. a buckle, Dan. spænde, Sw. spänne, to
lace. The O. E. word is spannan, without umlaut. The meaning
as well as the form of the Sco. word is Scand.
Sprack, adj. lively, animated.
Jamieson. O. N. sprǽkr, quick, strong, sprightly, Norse
spræk, spry, nimble, Dan. spræk, M. E. sprac.
This is one of a few undoubted Scand. words found in South Eng. diall.
Spil, sb. a stake. Douglas, III,
250, 16. O. N. *spílr, variant of spölr. Cp. Norse
spil, in the diall. of Western Norway. See spale.
Sprattle, vb. to walk through mud,
to scramble through wet and muddy places as the result of which one's
clothes become soiled. Burns, 10, 11, 3; also 68, 1, 3. O. N.
spretta, Norse spretta to spurt, sputter, splash, Sw.
spritte. On assimilation of nt, cp. sprent.
The l is frequentative. Exhibits characteristic Sco. change of
e to a before t. Cp. wat for wet,
swat for sweat.
Sprent, vb. to start, spring.
Wallace, N, 23. O. Dan. sprenta, spurt out, spring, start,
O. N. spretta, Norse spretta, shoot forth, spurt.
In Cu. a pen is said to sprent when it scatters the ink over the
paper. So in Norse. The Sco. word agrees more closely in meaning with the
Norse than with the Dan. but exhibits E. Scand. non-assimilation of
nt to tt which took place in Norse before 1000. Sw. diall.
which otherwise have many 65W. Scand.
characteristics have both sprenta and spritta. The word
sprætte also occurs in later Dan.
Sprent, sb. a spring, as the back
spring of a knife. Wallace, IV, 238. See sprent, vb.
Stakker, stacker, vb. to stagger.
Brace, II, 42; Gol. and Gaw., II, 25. O. N. stakra. See B-S.
under M. E. stakerin. Cp. Norse stakra, to stagger,
to fall.
Stang, vb. to sting. R.R., 771.
O. N. stanga, to prick, goad, also to butt, Norse
stanga, Dan. stange, id., M. E. stangen.
Stapp, vb. to put into, to stuff,
fill. Dunbar, T.M.W., 99; Montg. C. and S., 1552; Isaiah,
VI, 6; M.W. 21, 12. O. N. stappa, to stamp down,
Norse stappa, to stuff, fill, same as O. E. stempan,
Eng. stamp, Dan. stampe. The assimilated form stampa
occurs in Norse beside stappa. The usage in Sco. is distinctively
Norse and the vowel is the Norse vowel. Not the same as Eng. stop,
O. E. (for)stoppian in Leechdoms. With the last cp.
Dan. stoppe used just like Eng. stop.
Starn, sb. the helm of a vessel.
Dunbar, F., 450. O. N. stjorn, steerage, helm, Norse
stjorn, vb. stjorna, to steer, cognate with Eng.
steer, O. E. styrian. For a similar difference
between the Eng. and the Norse word cp. Eng. star and Norse
stjerne.
Starr, sb. sedge, heavy coarse
grass. Jamieson. See Wall under star.
Stern, starn, sb. star. C.S., 48;
Dunbar, G.T. 1; Lindsay, 239, 492. O. N. stjarna, Dan.
stjerne, star, Norse stjerna.
Stert, vb. to start, rush. Poet.
R., 109, 8. O. N. sterta. For discussion of this word
see Skeat.
Stoop, sb. See roop.
Storkyn, vb. to become rigid,
stiffen. Dunbar, 248, 48. Norse storkna, coagulate, become rigid.
See Wall under storken.
Stot, sb. a young bull, bullock.
Montg., C. and S., 1099; A.P.B. 1, 306; Burns, 231, 129, 4. Stratmann
derives M. E. stot, "buculus," from Sw. stut; and
stot, "caballus," from O. E. stotte. O. N.
stútr is rather the source of the former. Norse stut,
Dan. stud.
Stour, sb. a pole. Douglas,
III, 248, 27. O. N. staur, a pole, a stake, Norse
staur, Sw. stör, Dan. and Dano-Norse stör.
See the quotation under pocknet.
Stowit, pt. p. cutoff, cropped.
Douglas, III, 42, 3. O. N. stúfa,
66a stump, stýfa, to cut off, Dan.
stuve, Sw. stuf, a piece left after the rest has been cut
away, styva, to crop, O. Sw., Sw. dial. styva,
stuva, id. An O. E. styfician, to root up,
occurs once (Leechdoms). See B-T.
Stowp, sb. a pitcher, a beaker.
Dunbar, 161, 26. O. N. staup, a beaker, a cup, Norse
staup, id., Dan. stöb, O. E. stēap,
O. H.G. stouf.
Stray, strae, stra, sb. straw.
O. N. strá, Dan., Norse straa, Sw. strå,
Cu. strea.
Stroup, (strūp), sb. the spout
of a kettle or pump. Burns, 602; Jamieson. O. N. strjúpi,
the spurting trunk, Norse strupe and striupe, the throat,
gullet, Dan. strube, id., M. E. strūpe,
the throat.
Studie, sb. anvil. Dunbar,
141, 52. The word rhymes with smidy. See styddy.
Styddy, studdie, stuthy, sb. anvil.
Douglas, III, 926, 9; III, 180, 26; Dunbar 141, 52. See also Burns, 502.
O. N. steði, a stithy, an anvil. Norse sted. Sw.
städ. Exhibits change of ð to d which is a Sco.
characteristic, but does not often take place in Norse words.
See, too, Cu. stiddy, steady.
Sumph, sb. a blunt fellow.
Burns, 98, 1. Norse sump, a bungler, a simpleton, sumpa,
vb. to entangle, put into disorder, sump, a disordered mass. Cu.
sumph. M. L. G. sump, and Dan. sump do
not seem to be quite the same.
Swarf, vb. originally to turn,
then to overturn, fall over, fall. Burns, 211, 87, 4. O. N.
svarfa, to turn aside, to be turned upside down, Sw.
swarfve, Norse svarva, turn, swing about, Dan.
svarve or svarre. Eng. swerve does not quite
correspond. O. E. sweorfan meant "to file, polish,"
O. S. swerban, to wipe off, polish,
O. F.
swerva, to creep.
Swage, swey, vb. sway, waver,
also turn, make turn. Sat. P., 5, 8; Douglas, II, 104, 12. O. N.
svæigja, to bend, to sway, Dan. sveie, Sw. dial.
sväiga, Norse sveigja.
Syte, sb. grief, suffering.
Lyndsay, 273, 333. Montg., M.P., V, 14. O. N. sýta,
to wail, sýting, sb., sút, grief, affliction, Norse
sut, care, syta, to care. Skeat cites sut
(in list) which would exactly correspond to the O. N. sb.
Brate accepts an O. N. sb. syt.
Tait, adj. foul. Montg.,
F., 755. O. N. tað. The change of ð to t
is unusual. See Wall.
67Tangle,
sb. seaweed, stalk of a seaweed. Dalr., I, 62, 1; Burns, 91, 2, 2.
O. N. þöngul, tangle, seaweed. Cp. þönglabakki,
Tangle-hill, name of a place in Iceland. In Norse tangel same as
Eng. tangle, entangle.
Tangling, pr. p., adj.
clinging, intertwining. Burns, 60, 3, tangling roots, clinging together
in tangles. See tangle.
Tarn, sb. a small lake. Jamieson.
O. N. tjörn, a small lake, Norse tjönn, tjörn,
Sw. tjärn, M. E. terne, a lake. Particularly Sco. and
N.W. Eng. Cp. Shetland shon, shoden, a pool, a little
lake. The last example exhibits W. Norse change of rn to
dn. The form tjödn occurs in Sogn, Norway.
Tath, sb. Jamieson. O. N.
tað. See Wall.
Teal, till, vb. to entice. Wallace,
VI, 151, and Jamieson. O. N. tæla, to entice, related to
Norse telja. Sco. tealer, sb. Jamieson. The form
in i is strange.
Teynd, teind, sb. tithe. C.S.,
123; Lyndsay, 152, 4690; Rolland, I, 546. O. N. tíund,
the tenth, the tithe, Norse tiende, Dan. tiende, the
regular ordinal of ti.
Tha, dem. pron. these, those.
Same form in all cases. Wallace, X, 41; Wyntoun, I, 1, 6. O. N.
þeir.
Theck, vb. to thatch. Ramsay,
II, 224. Has been taken as a loan-word from O. N. þekja,
to thatch, Norse tekka, Sw. täcka. Cp. O. E.
þeccan. Theck probably comes from O. Nhb. þecca.
Thir, dem. pron. these, those.
Bruce, I, 76; Dunbar, G.T., 127; Lyndsay, 4, 20, 1175; R.R., 108.
O. N. þeir. Cp. M. E. þir, þer, those,
Cu. thur.
Thra, adj. eager. Bruce, XVIII,
71. O. N. þrár, obstinate, persistent, Norse traa,
untiring, also wilful, Sw. dial. trå, M. E. þra,
bold, strong, thraly, adv. Wyntoun, II, 8, 55; VII, 8, 186.
See Wall. Skeat cites Eng. dial. thro.
Thra, adv. boldly. Dunbar,
T.M.W., 195. See above, thra.
Thraif, sb. two stooks or
twenty-four sheaves of grain. Dunbar, 228. O. N. þrefi,
a number of sheaves, Dan. trave, Sw. trafwe, twenty
sheaves of grain, M. E. þrāve, a bundle, a number,
Cu. threve, threeav.
Threave, sb. a crowd, a large
number. Ramsay, II, 463. The same word as thraif, q.v.
Thrist, vb. to thrust, push, also
means to clasp. Bruce, XIII, 156; R.R. 12, 9; Rolland, IV, 590. O. N.
þrýsta, to thrust, 68force, Norse
trysta, to press together, M. E. þrīsten,
þrȳstan. Lyndsay also uses the word in the sense of "to pierce."
Thwaite, sb. originally a small
piece of cleared land on which a house was built, a cottage with its
paddock. O. N. þvæit, O. Ic. þveit. Northwest
England thwaite, Norse tveit, tvæit, Dan.
tved. Occurs in a number of place-names in S. Scotland,
especially in Dumfriesshire. Its form is Norse not Dan. Thweet
or thwet would correspond to the Dan. word, but see also Part III, 1.
Tit, tyt, adv. soon, quickly. Bruce,
II, 4; IV, 289. O. N. títt, adv. frequently, in quick
succession, "höggva hart ok títt." The Sco. word comes from this
O. N. form, which is simply the neuter inflected form of
tiðr, adj. meaning "customary, familiar." The comparative
titter often means "rather" in Sco., like Eng. sooner.
Cp. Cu. "I'd as tite deat as nut," "I'd as lief do it as not."
Tithand, titand, sb. news, tidings.
Bruce, IV, 468; Lyndsay, 341, 720. O. N. tiðindi, news, Norse
tidende, id., Dan. tidende, Orm. tiþennde. Of
O. E. tidung > tidings Bosworth says: "the use of
the word, even if its form be not borrowed from Scand., seems to have
Scand. influence."
Titlene, sb. the hedge sparrow.
C.S., 38. O. N. titlingr, a tit, a sparrow.
Toym, tume, sb. leisure. Bruce,
V, 64, 2, XVII, 735. O. N. tóm, leisure (Skeat).
Traist, vb. to trust. Bruce,
I, 125; XVII, 273; Rolland, I, 27. Trast, adj. secure,
traist, sb. confidence. Lindsay, 229, 195.
Traisting, sb. confidence, reliance, L.L., 25. Cp.
O. N. tröysta, adj. traustr, and Eng.
trust, M. E. trusten. I do not at present
understand the relation between the forms in e, and these
in u and ou.
Trig, adj. trim, neat, handsome.
M.W., 159, 26. O. N. tryggr, true, trusty,
unconcerned, trygging, security, O. Dan. trygd,
trugd, confidence (Schlyter), Norse trygg, secure,
unconcerned, confident, tryggja, to consider secure,
tryggja sek, feel secure, Dan. tryg, fearless, confident.
Cp. Cu. trig, tight, well-fitted, "trig as an apple." The
M. E. trig means faithful, see B-S. Ramsay, II, 526,
uses the adv. trigly in the sense of "proudly."
69Twist,
sb. twig, branch. Bruce, VII, 188; Montg., C. and S., Irving,
468. O. N. kvistr, a twig, O. Dan., quist, Norse,
Dan. kvist, Sw. quist, id. For the change of kv
(kw) to tw cp. Norse, Dan. kviddre, Sw.
quittra, Du. kwittern with Eng. twitter, and
kj to tj in W. Norse. A regular change.
Tyne, vb. lose, impair, destroy.
C.S., 3; Wyntoun, IX, 21, 14; R.R. 779. O. N. týna, to lose,
destroy, Norse tyna, to lose, sometimes impair, Sw. dial.
tyna, to destroy.
Tynsell, tynsale, sb. loss. Bruce,
V, 450, XIX, 449; R.R., 505. In Wyntoun, IX, 3, 25, it means "delay,
loss of time," frequently means "loss of life, slaughter." M. E.
tinsel, loss, ruin, probably a Sco. formation from tyne,
to lose, similarly in Norse tynsell, loss (not frequent), from
tyna.
Tynsale, vb. to lose, suffer loss.
Bruce, XIX, 693. See the sb.
Tytt, adj. firm, tight. Wallace,
VII, 21, 2. O. N. þittr, tight, close, Norse, tett or
titt, Dan. tæt, Sw. tät, close together, tight, Eng.
dial. theet. The long vowel in theet is unusual.
Ug, vb. to dislike, abhor.
Winyet, II, 31, 32; Scott, 71, 119. O. N. ugga, abhor,
Norse ugga, see B-S.
Ugsum, adj. fearful. Sat. P., 3,
135. See ug. Ougsum, Howlate, I, 8, means "ugly."
Underlie, adj. wonderful. Gau,
29, 24. Dan. underlig, Norse, underleg, O. N.
underlegr, wonderful, shows Scand. loss of w before
u. The O. E. word is wundorlic, cp. Scand.
ulf, Eng. wolf. The word is Dan. in Gau.
Unfleckit, adj. unstained.
Psalms, XXIV, 4. See fleckerit.
Unganand (gēn.), adj. unfit,
unprepared. Douglas, II, 48, 16. See ganand.
Unrufe, sb. restlessness,
vexation. Gol. and Gaw., 499. See rove, sb. Cp. Norse uro,
restlessness, noise, Dan. uro, id.
Unsaucht, adj. disturbed,
troubled. Gol. and Gaw., II, 12. See saucht.
Upbigare, sb. a builder.
Winyet, II, 3, 4. See big. Cp. Norse bygga up.
Uploip, vb. leap up. Montg.,
M.P., III, 33. See loup. On this change of ou to
oi cp. the same word in Norse, laupa and loipa.
Vath, waith,
sb. danger. Bruce,
V, 418; Wallace, IX, 1737. O. N. váði, harm, mishap,
disaster, Dan. vaade, danger,
ad70versity, Sw. våde,
an unlucky accident, M. E. wāþe, peril. Does not seem
to exist in the modern diall.
Vitterly, adv. certainly. Bruce,
IV, 771; X, 350. O. N. vitrliga, wisely, Dan.
vitterlig, well-known, undoubted, M. E. witerliche,
certainly.
Vyndland, pr. p. whirling around.
Bruce, XVII, 721. O. N. vindla, to wind up. Norse
vindel, a curl, anything twisted or wound. Cu. winnel.
Cp. Dan. vindelbugt, a spiral twist. Skeat cites provincial Eng.
windle, a wheel for winding yarn.
Wag, vb. to totter, walk unsteady.
Dunbar, 120, 98. Norse, vagga, to swing, rock, sway, O. N.
vaga, to waddle. See further Skeat.
Waggle, vb. to wag, sway from side
to side, wabble. M.W., 16, 23; 51, 5. Sw. dial. vagla,
vackla, to reel, Norse vakla, id. May be taken as a Sco.
frequentative of wag, q.v. Not to be derived from the L. G.
word. Confined to the Scand. settlements.
Wailie, adj. excellent. Burns,
179, 2, 3, and 8, 7. See wale, sb.
Wailit, adj. choice, fashionable,
excellent. Rolland, I, 64. See wail, vb.
Wale, vb. to select, choose.
Douglas, III, 3, 21; Dunbar, G.T., 186. Probably from the noun
wale, choice. The vowel does not correspond with that of the
O. N. vb. velja, which should have become well.
But the forms dwall from O. N. dvelja, and hale,
O. N. hella, appear in Sco. Wale may be a formation
analogous to hale.
Waith, sb. the spoil of the chase
or of fishing. Wallace, I, 386. O. N. væiðr, a catch in
hunting or fishing. Norse veidd, the chase, veida, to hunt.
On Sco. faid, a company of hunters. See I, § 22.
Wandreth, sb. sorrow, trouble.
Douglas, I, 88, 14. O. N. vandræði, difficulty, trouble.
Norse, vanraad, misery, poverty.
Want, vant, vb. lack, stand in need
of, suffer. Montg., S., 48, 3; Lyndsay, 152, 40704; Bruce, V, 422; Burns,
113, 2, 3. O. N. vanta, to lack. Norse vanta, lack,
never means desire. This is the regular use of the word in Sco.
Wanthreivin, adj. unthriven,
miserable. Montg., F., 327. O. N. van + þrifenn,
Norse vantreven, O. N. vb. þrifa, Norse triva,
vantriva (refl.). See Skeat under Eng. thrive and
thrift.
71Wap
(wæ̆p), vb. to turn, overturn, throw, hurl. Douglas, I, 2, 20;
III, 167, 28; Gol. and Gaw., 127. O. N. vappa, to waddle.
Norse vappa, turn, wrap around. Sw. dial. vappla, wrap up.
Cu. wap, to wrap.
Ware, vb. to lay out money, spend.
Rolland, III, 450; Dunbar, 92, 13; R.R., 3553. O. N. verja,
to invest money. See Wall.
Waur, vb. to overcome. Burns,
7, 1, 7; Psalms, CXL, 2. See werr. Cp. Eng. worst as a
vb. and superlative of bad, worse.
Weik, vb. to weaken. Scott,
68, 14. Cp. Norse veikja, to weaken, make weak. O. N.
væikja, to grow weak, both from adj. væikr, weak, same as
O. E. wāc. The Sco. vb. may be formed directly from the
adj., in which case its origin becomes uncertain. Skeat says Eng.
weak, M. E. weyke (which replaced wook <
O. E. wāc), is from O. N. væikr. But the
M. Sco. form of O. E. or O. Nhb. wāc was
wāke (wēk); our word could come from this. The diphthong,
however, rather indicates that it comes from the Norse vb.
Weill-varandly, adv. in a proper
manner. R.R., 911. See farrand. Cp. O. N. fara vel,
Norse fara vel, to go well, velfaren, gone well.
Welter, vb. to roll, turn, overturn.
Bruce, XI, 25; III, 700; Douglas, II, 125, 25; T.M.W., 439;
Lyndsay, 342, 770. O. N. valtra, to be unsteady, not firm,
easily shaken. O. Sw. valltra, Sw. dial. välltra,
to roll.
Werr, were, war, var, waur, adj.
worse. C.S., 57; Lyndsay, 428, 1392; R.R., 589, etc. O. N.
verr, worse, Norse verr, verre, Dan. værre,
Sw. värr, Cu. waar. This is the modern Sco. pronunciation
of it. The O. Fr. wirra does not correspond to the Sco. forms
of the word. It is most common in Scotland and N.W. England.
Wicht, adj. strong, vigorous,
skillful. Bruce, VII, 263; Ramsay, I 253. O. N. vígr, fit
for battle, skilled in war, from víg, battle, Sw. vig,
active, M. E. wiht, valiant. B-S. queries the word, but
thinks it may come from M. L. G. wicht, heavy, thus the
same word as Eng. weight. This meaning is, however, not
satisfactory. The Sco. usage is that of the Scand. word. The t
is inflectional. Cp. O. N. eiga vígt um.
Wick, vb. to make to turn,
to strike off on the side, strike a stone
72in an oblique direction, a term in
curling, to hit the corner (Wagner). O. N. víkja,
to turn, to veer, Sw. dial. vik, Sw. wika,
Norse vikja, vika, to turn (causative). Dan.
vige not quite the same word.
Wilkatt, sb. a wild cat, Dalr.,
I, 723. Ramsay II, 500. O. N. vill + Eng., Norse cat,
kat.
Will, vill, adj. adv. lost,
bewildered, astray. Dunbar, 228, 74; Douglas, II, 24, 6, "to go will."
O. N. villr, bewildered, fara villt, get lost, Norse
vill, astray, Dan. vild, Sw. vill. Cp. Cu.
wills, doubts, "Aaz i' wills whether to gang or nit."
Wilrone, sb. a wild boar. Scott,
71, 106. O. N. vill, wild, + runi, a boar,
a wild boar, Norse rone, raane, Sw. dial. råne,
Dan., with metathesis, orne.
Wilsum, adj. errant, wandering.
Douglas, II, 65, 16; "a wilsome way," "Freires of Berwick," 410.
See will, astray. Wilsum more frequently means "willful,"
is Eng.
Wissle, vissil, wyssil. Douglas,
III, 225, 8; Bruce, XII, 580; Montg., F., 578. O. N. vixla,
to cross, to put across, vixlingr, a changeling (Cl. and V.),
Norse veksla, vessla, to exchange, Dan. veksle.
Sco. and Norse both show the change of ks to ss. The Norse
form versla shows later dissimilation of ss to rs.
This is W. Norse.
Wittir, sb. a sign. Douglas,
II, 231, 16. See wittering.
Wittering, vittering, sb.
information, knowledge. Bruce, IV, 562; Douglas, II, 185, 27. O. N.
vitring, revelation, from vb. vitra, to reveal. Norse
vitring, information, M. E. witering, id.
Welter, sb. an overturning.
Winyet, I, 49, 22. See the vb. welter.
The general character of the Scand. loanwords in Sco. is Norse,
not Dan. This is shown by (a) A number of words that either do
not exist in Dan. or else have in Sco. a distinctively W. Scand.
sense; (b) Words with a W. Scand. form.
a. The following words have in Sco. a W. Scand. meaning or
are not found in Danish:
73
Airt, to urge. O. N. erta.
Not a Dan. word.
Apert, boldly. O. N. apr.
Not Dan.
Aweband, a rope for tying cattle.
O. N. háband. Meaning distinctively W. Scand.
Bauch, awkward. Not E.Scand.
Bein, liberal. Meaning is W. Scand.
Brod, to incite. O. N.
brodda, id. Dan. brodde, means "to equip with points."
Bysning, monstrous. O. N.
bysna. Not E. Scand.
Carpe, to converse. Not E.Scand.
Chowk, jawbone. Rather W. Scand.
than E. Scand.
Chyngill, gravel. A Norse word.
Dapill, gray. A W. Scand. word.
Dyrdum, uproar. W. Scand.
The word is also found in Gael.
Furthermore the form is more W. Scand. than Dan. Cp. dýr
and dør.
Dowless, worthless. Duglauss
a W. Scand. word.
Duds, clothes. Not found in Dan. or Sw.
Ettle, aim at. W. Scand. meaning.
O. Dan. ætlæ meant
"ponde over."
Farrand, handsome. This meaning is
Icelandic and Norse.
Fell, mountain. W. Scand.
more than E. Scand.
Gane, be suitable. O. N.
gegna. Vb. not found in Dan.
Gyll, a ravine. O. N. gil.
Is W. Scand.
Heid, brightness. O. N.
hærð. Icel. and Norse.
Hoolie, slow. O. N. hógligr.
Not in Dan. or Sw.
Kendill, to kindle. Ormulum
kinndlenn is from O. Ic.
kendill (Brate).
Lirk, to crease. I have not
found the word in E.Scand.
Melder, flour. O. N. meldr.
Is W. Scand.,
particularly Norse.
Pocknet, a fishnet. O. N.
pōki-net. Not Dan.
Ramstam, indiscreet, boisterous.
Both elements are W. Scand.
Scarth, cormorant. W. Scand.
Tarn, a lake. Distinctively Norse.
Tyne, to lose. O. N. týna.
Distinctively Norse.
Waith, booty. O. N. væiðr.
Icel. and Søndmøre, Norway.
Ware, to spend. N. verja.
W. Scand.
Wick, to cause to turn. O. N.
vikja. Not Danish.
74b. The following words are
W. Scand. in form:
Bolax, hatchet. O. N. bolöx.
The O. Dan. word has the vowel u, bulöx.
Bown, O. N. búinn, cp.
grouf < grúfu; bowk < búkr; stroup
< strjúpr; dowless < duglauss, etc.
The O. Dan. word was boin.
The form in Orm. is būn, a Norse loanword.
Busk, to prepare, has W. Scand.
reflexive ending sk.
Buth, O. N. búð. The
O. Dan., O. Sw. vowel was o, boð and
bodh, so in modern Dan. diall. In Norse diall. it is u.
Cappit shows W. Scand.
assimilation of mp < pp.
Clubbit shows W. Scand.
assimilation of mb < bb.
Drucken exhibits W. Scand.
assimilation of nk > kk.
Cp. O. Dan. dronkne, drone, but N.Dan. drukken.
Harn corresponds better
to O. N. hjarni than to umlauted
Dan. hjerne, O. Sw. hiärne.
Ill, will. Both
show assimilation of ld to ll.
Cp. O. N. illr, villr, but Dan. ilde, vild.
Rund, roond, is rather
the O. N. rond than Dan. rand.
Ser, seir corresponds better
to O. N., O. Ic.
sér than to O. Dan. sær. This change of
e to
æ in Dan. was, however, late, i.e., in the last part of the
10th Century. See Noreen P. G.2 I, 526.
Slak, O. N. slakki.
Shows W. Scand. assimilation of nk > kk.
Stapp, O. N. stappa.
Has W. Scand. assimilation
of mp > pp. Cp. cappit.
Stert is O. N. sterta.
Cp. Dan. styrte.
Wandreth is nearer to O. N.
vandræði than to O. Dan. *vandraþ (Brate),
from which N. Dan. vanraad.
Monophthongization of ou to o, ai to i
(e), öy to ö took place in
O. Dan. about 900. The Scand. loanwords in Eng., where the
monophthong might be expected to appear, nearly always have the
diphthong, however, which as we know was kept in W. Scand. Have
such words been borrowed from W. Scand. then, or were they borrowed
from Dan. before the period of monophthongation? Danish
settlements began in the latter half of the 9th Century, but Dan.
(and Norse) and Eng. did not merge immediately. Scand. continued
to be spoken throughout the next century down to the beginning
of the 11th Century (Noreen). Brate says the majority
of loanwords probably came in in the beginning of the 10th
Cen75tury. Wall points out that
the Mercian and the Northumbrian
Gospels of the 1st part of the 10th Century show extremely small
traces of Scand. influence. It would seem, then, that the greater
number of loanwords came in after monophthongation had taken
place in Dan. The following dates for the appearance of loanwords
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle may be of interest. These are all
taken from Egge's article, "Norse Words in the A-S. Chronicle."
Hold first appears in 905, then again in 911 and 921; law
in the present sense is first used in 959; in 1002 is first found the word
grith, peace, which at once became common; lætan, to think, is
first found in 1005. In 1008 appears sagth; in 1011 hustinge; 1014
utlagian; 1048 the noun utlah; 1016 feologan;
1036, 1046, 1047, lithmen, sailors; lith, fleet,
in 1012, 1066, 1068, 1069, 1071;
in 1055 sciplith; in 1036, 1041, 1054, 1045,
and 1071 huscarl; hamule, hamle 1039;
ha 1040; hasata, rower,
(O. N. há-sæti)
in 1052; in 1048 bunda and husbunda; 1049 nithing;
in the same year also the phrase scylode of male, paid off
(O. N. skilja af máli); 1052, 1066 butscarl, boatsman,
hytte in 1066, wyrre 1066. In 1072 for the first time appears
tacan; in 1076 hofding and brydlop, etc.
We may conclude that the Scand. elements that had come into
O. Eng. in the beginning of the 10th Century were not large.
From the middle of the century they came in in large numbers, but
the period of most extensive borrowing seems rather to be the last
part of the 10th and the first half of the 11th Century. Wall suggests
that the Dan. spoken by the Dan. settlers in England was of
a more archaic kind than that spoken in Denmark—that this might
in many cases account for the archaic character of the loanwords.
We know that the settlements in central England were predominantly
Dan. as opposed to Norse. The Scand. place-names as well
as the character of the loanwords in the Ormulum indicate that.
It is probable, then, that monophthongation took place later in the
Dan. spoken in England than in that spoken in Denmark. The
following is a list of some of these words found in Scotch. O. N.
æi, Dan. e: bayt, to graze; blaik,
to cleanse; graip, a fork; grane,
a branch; graith, to prepare; laike, to play;
slaik, to smoothen;
lairing, gutter; the Yorkshire form lyring (Wall) seems to
show an original monophthong. O. N. öy: careing,
smaik. O. N. ou, Dan.
ö: blout, bare; douff, dull;
gowk, a fool; haugh, a knoll; loup, to
76run; louse, loose;
nout, cattle; rowt, to roar; rowst, to cry out;
stowp, a beaker; stour, a pole.
It will be seen from the above, leaving out of consideration the
diphthong ou and ai, that the character of a large number of the
loanwords is Norse. In a great many cases the E. and W. Scand.
form of the word was the same. There are, however, a few words
in Sco. that bear a Dan. stamp: sprent, donk and
slonk exhibit E.Scand. non-assimilation of nt and
nk to tt and kk. Snib corresponds
to Dan. snibbe, cp. M. E. snibben. All these have the
umlaut. Eng. snub, M. E. snubben and O. N.
snubba have the
unumlauted vowel. Bud agrees closer with Dan. bud,
budh, than O. N. boð, Norse bod.
Thraive (Dunbar) and threave (Ramsay)
both indicate an original a-vowel, hence correspond better to Dan.
trave than O. N. þrefi. To these may be
added bask, flegger and
forjeskit, which are not found in W. Scand.
The values given in the following tables are for Middle Scotch.
The symbols used do not need explanation:
a.
O. N. a in originally close syllable >
æ, written a: anger, hansell, apert, ban,
blabber, slak, cast, chaff, dash, dram,
bang, fang, stang, lack, etc.
O. N. a in originally close syllable before
r remains a: bark, carl, carp, farrand,
garth, harth, scarth, swarf,
and harsk (O. Dan.).
O. N., O. Dan. a in close syllable >
é in blether, forjeskit, welter.
a in close syllable > ē (ay,
ai) in aynd, baittenin.
a in close syllable remains a,
written o in cog.
O. N. a in originally open syllable
regularly becomes ē, written a, ai, ay:
dasen, flake, maik, scait, etc.
O. N. a + g > ē
written ai in braid, gane (to profit).
a + g > aw in bawch.
In mawch ð fell out and a developed
as a before g.
77
e.
O. N. e remains in airt, bekk,
bleck, cleck, cleg, egg (to incite),
elding, esping, fleckerit, freckled, gedde,
gengeld, kendell, melder, mensk, nevin,
werr, spenn, stert, sker.
O. Dan. e remains in sprent.
O. N. e becomes i in lirk,
kitling, and before ng in ding, flingin,
hing, and also in skrip, styddy.
O. N. e > æ, written a,
in dapill, clag. Cp. sprattle in Burns.
> æ before r in ware.
> a before r in karling.
O. N. e > i in neefe
(nieve).
O. N. e appears as u in
studdy. See word list.
O. N. e (from older æi) >
ē in hailse.
e + g > e written a,
ai: e.g., haine, gane (to suit).
i.
O. N. i generally remains i:
bing, grith, kist, link, lite,
titling, wilrone, frequently written y: byng,
chyngill, gyll, etc.
O. N. i before st > e:
gestning, restit.
i > ī in ithand
(ythand), and ei in eident.
o.
O. N. o remains o: boldin,
bolle, brod, costlyk, loft, rock, etc.
O. N. o + g > ow
in low.
u.
O. N. u generally remains u:
bught, buller, clunk, cunnand, lucken,
ugg, clubbit, drucken, skugg. The sound of
u in O. N., however, was approximately that of oo
in "foot."
O. N. u > ū in drook.
y.
O. N. y always becomes i,
written i, y: big, birr, filly,
flit, trig, wyndland, gylmyr. The O. N.
y had approximately the value of Germ. ü.
æ.
O. N. æ > e in ettle.
ö
O. N. ö > e in gleg,
glegy, appears as u in slut.
O. N. ö, u-v-umlaut
of a, becomes æ, written a: daggit,
ragweed, tangle.
78O. N.
ö, u-umlaut of a in originally open syllable,
like open a, > ē in spale.
Hence u-umlaut does not appear in loanwords.
ja (ia).
O. N. ja > a in
assle-tooth, harn, starn.
> e in sker and stern.
jö (iö).
O. N. jö > a in tarn.
O. N. jö > i before r
in firth, gyrth (gjörth), gyrthin.
ā.
O. N. ā regularly > ē,
written a, ai, ay, ae, ei (?): baith,
blae, bray, braith, fra, frae, lait,
craik, ra, saikless, spay, etc.
O. N. ā + g > aw,
awch, aigh, aich, awsome, law, sb.
law, adj. lawch, beside laigh and laich
in N. Sco.
O. N. ā + l > ow
in chowk (O. N. kjálki).
ē.
O. N. ē remains in ser,
seir.
ē > ǣ, written a,
in fallow.
O. N. ē before tt > i,
written y, in tytt. Cp. titt in W. Norse dial.
ī.
O. N. ī most frequently remains
ī, written i, y: flyre, gryce,
grise, myth, skrik, rive, ryfe,
tithand, etc.
O. N. ī appears as e in
skrech, probably pronounced skrich.
O. N. ī > ē,
written ei, in quey, gleit, keik.
O. N. ī > ĭ in
scrip, wick, and before original xl in wissle
(wyssyl).
The corresponding word in Norse also has a short
vowel, but changed to e, veksl, vessla (and
versla).
ō.
O. N. ō > ū, written
o, oo, u, eu: crove, rove,
unrufe, hoolie, hulie, lufe, ruse,
roose, sleuth, tume.
O. N. ō > ou in
clour.
ō > oy in toym
(Bruce), exact sound uncertain.
ō + l > ow in
bow.
79
ū.
O. N. ū remains in buth,
grouf.
O. N. ū generally > ou,
ow: boun, bowne, bowk, cow,
cour, etc.
ū > ō in solande,
stot.
ū > ŭ in busk.
ȳ.
O. N. ȳ regularly > ī,
written i, y: lythe, tyne, sit,
skyrin, snite. Cp. y.
O. N. ȳ appears as ē
(ei) in neiris, exact sound not certain. Cp. ȳ
before st > ĭ in thrist (O. N.
þrýsta).
ǣ.
O. N. ǣ remains in hething.
ǣ > e in sait.
ǣ > e, e, in
rad, red, radness, etc.
ai.
O. N. ai > ē, written
a, ai, ay, ei: bait, bein,
bayt, blaik, dey, grane, graip,
graith, heid, laif, lairet, lairing,
lak, laiching, thwaite, waith, slaik,
swage, raise, tha.
O. N. ai > i in
nyte (?).
O. N. ai is represented by i
before r in thir. Cp. Cu. thur.
O. N. ain > en initially
in enkrely.
öy.
O. N. öy > ē, written
e, ai: careing, dey, smaik.
öy > e in yemsel
(yhemsell), may be a case of Dan. monophthongation.
ou, au.
O. N. ou, au is regularly
ou, ow in Sco.: blowt, douff, dowff,
gowk, gowl, loup, louse, nowt,
rout, rowste, soum. Very frequently appears as
oi, oy: e.g., soym, doif, goilk,
loip, etc.
O. N. ou > u in gukk,
vb. formed from gowk (?).
jo.
O. N. jo before r >
a in starn (O. N. stjorn).
jo > ei in leister. Appears
as i in the N. Sco. word shiel.
80
ju.
O. N. ju > ū in
stroop.
ju > i in skyle.
b.
O. N. b regularly remains b.
Is lost after m in gylmyr.
b > p initially pirrye.
d.
O. N. d regularly remains.
Is lost after n in hansell.
An epenthetic d appears after n
in solande, ythand; after l in boldin
and rangeld.
O. N. ld > ll in
caller.
g.
O. N. g regularly remains g
before guttural and palatal vowels alike.
g > ȝ before a palatal vowel in
genȝeld, yhemsel.
O. N. g disappears after n
in titlene.
g > ch in bawch,
lawch.
On O. N. a + g,
o + g, e + g, see the vowels.
p.
O. N. p regularly remains p.
p > ph finally in sumph.
t.
O. N. t regularly remains t.
t > tch in scratch.
Seems to have become d in cadie
(O. N. kátr), but Dan. kådh may be the source.
An epenthetic t after n
appears in eident.
k.
O. N. k regularly remains k.
k > ch finally in screch.
Cp. also laiching.
O. N. ks (x) > ss
in assletooth, wissle.
On O. N. sk, see s.
v.
O. N. v regularly becomes w:
welter, witter, ware, werr, wicht,
etc.
81O. N.
v is represented by v in vath, vittirly,
vyndland, all in Bruce.
An epenthetic v appears after o
(u) in crove, rove, unrufe.
ð, þ
O. N. ð, þ quite regularly
> th: baith, bletherb, raith, buith,
degraith, firth, garth, graith, ithand,
lythe, mythe, hething, harth, grith,
gyrth, waith, vath, sleuth, tath,
skaith, wandreth, etc.
O. N. ð > d medially and
finally in eident, ydlanlie, heid, red,
duds, stud.
O. N. ð is lost in mauch.
O. N. þ initially remains in
thrist, thra, thraif, tha, thir,
thwaite, wan-threvin.
þ > t in tytt,
tangle.
f.
O. N. f initially always remains.
Medially and finally f remains in cloff,
nefe, lufe, laif.
Medially and finally f > v in:
nieve, nevin, rive, lave, crave.
O. N. f > th in scarth
(O. N. skarfr).
An epenthetic f appears in unrufe
(v?).
s.
O. N. s regularly remains s.
s > ch in chyngill (?).
sk.
O. N. sk = sk initially medially
and finally: skar, sker, skewit, skill,
skugg, skrech, skant, scait, scool,
scratch, scarth, skait, skail, scud,
scudler, script, skyle, skeigh, busk,
bask (dry), harsk, harskness, forjeskit,
mensk(?).
O. N. sk > sh finally in
dash (?).
sk > sh before a guttural
vowel in shacklet (?), and schore (?).
O. N. sk before i (ī)
> sh in shiel. Cp. skyle above.
sk > s finally in mense.
h.
O. N. h initially before vowels remains,
except in aweband.
O. N. h initially before r,
l, n, is lost: rad, rangale, ruse,
lack, loup, nieve, etc.
O. N. ht, remains, is not assimilated
to tt, e.g., sacht, unsaucht.
An inorganic h initially appears in
hendir, hugsum.
82
hv.
O. N. hv regularly > qu,
quh: quhelm, quey.
m, n, l, r.
O. N. m regularly remains.
m before t > n in
skant, skantlin.
O. N. n always remains, nd
is not assimilated to nn. Cp. Cu. winnle.
O. N. l initially remains.
Medially and finally generally remains.
O. N. l after o >
w: bowdyne, bowne, bow.
l very frequently takes the place of
w medially: golk, dolf.
An excrescent l appears in gylmyr.
O. N. r regularly remains.
Disappears before sk in bask,
undergoes metathesis in gyrth.
Inflexional r remains in caller.
1. The publications of the Scottish
Text Society and those of the Early English Text Society are given first.
The others follow, as nearly as may be, in chronological order.
2. Ellis's D 31 = N. W.
Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmoreland and N. Lancashire.
Volume 1 in the Series
of
GERMANIC STUDIES
from
Columbia University